Patient Selection for Pemafibrate Therapy to Prevent Adverse Cardiovascular Events

Background: pemafibrate is a newly-introduced selective peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α modulator, which decreases serum triglyceride levels with few drug-related adverse events and may reduce the risk of adverse cardiovascular events in carefully selected patients with hypertriglyceridemia. We aimed to understand which specific cohorts may benefit or not from pemafibrate therapy for adverse cardiovascular event risk reduction. Methods: patients with hypertriglyceridemia at baseline received pemafibrate therapy for two years or until October 2022. The factors that were associated with an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events, defined as heart failure hospitalization, stroke, and acute coronary syndromes, were investigated. Results: a total of 121 patients (median 62 years, 88 men) remained on pemafibrate therapy for a median of 566 days without any drug-related adverse events. During a 3-month therapeutic period, triglyceride levels improved significantly from 302 (205, 581) mg/dL to 178 (117, 253) mg/dL (p < 0.001). During the overall therapeutic period, there were nine cardiovascular events. Comorbid chronic heart failure, comorbid coronary disease, and a lower pemafibrate dosing were independently associated with the primary endpoint (p < 0.05 for all). Those with multiple risk factors (N = 30) had a significantly higher cumulative incidence of the primary endpoint as compared with others (27% versus 3%, p < 0.001). Conclusion: pemafibrate significantly improves hypertriglyceridemia. A higher dose of pemafibrate should be considered to reduce the risk of adverse cardiovascular events, particularly in patients with chronic heart failure or coronary disease.