Treatment of blood cholesterol is part of a strategy to lower atherosclerotic cardiovascular (ASCVD) risk. While use of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors to modify cholesterol levels is the primary means of lowering the risk of an ASCVD event, residual risk remains. A new strategy being investigated is the use of cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitors to raise the levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). While initial large-scale studies demonstrated no reduction of cardiovascular events, one CETP inhibitor, anacetrapib, has demonstrated a reduction in cardiovascular events in the REVEAL trial. (The full article is available in the October 2017 issue of Hospital Pharmacy)

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It is estimated that 2.1% of the population of the United States will develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in a lifetime. With treatment, 71% of patients with NHL live to 5 years. Because current drugs used for treatment do not cure all patients and cause serious adverse effects, new strategies have been studied to treat lymphoma. One new pharmacologic strategy is to use chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T-cell) therapy. CAR T-cell therapies are very potent. As a class, the CAR T-cell therapies have induced complete remission in 50% to 80% of patients. Most patients using CAR T-cell therapies develop cytokine release syndrome, with about 1 in 3 having a severe form of the syndrome. This article will briefly review CAR T-cell therapies in development. (The full article is available in the ​July-August 2017 issue of Hospital Pharmacy)

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