Studio Guest: Prof. Kristof Graf - Part 2

Prof. Kristof Graf, Cardiologist from the German Heart Institute, Berlin
DW-TV: 4% less sclerosis in the arteries as a consequence of the treatment with the Apolipoprotein A1 Milano. Is that a lot?


Kristof Graf: Yes it is a lot. But what does it tell us? This is just a short-term study and we don't have really hard endpoints for the outcome of the patients. Do they have another infarction or do they have less infarction? Do they have less angina? So for that question I would say yes. But there is not a definite answer as to whether this concept really holds for long-term treatment.


DW-TV: Now actually that finding is pretty old - already four or five years old. How come we still don't have a therapy?


Kristof Graf: That's a very good observation. The problem is when they performed this study, that this application is very cost-intensive and production-intensive. We have a protein mix which has to be freshly prepared, or has to be kept frozen until treatment and this is not a good strategy for let's say a public disease where you want to increase HDL cholesterol levels (the so-calles good cholesterol) by a drug. You can't put everybody under infusion. I don't know any system which can afford such an expensive treatment.


DW-TV: Do we have to suspect that the pharmaceutical industry wouldn't make enough money with that?


Kristof Graf: It's probably not only that, it's probably also that the public insurances can't afford such a treatment for such a large group of people who would benefit from such a treatment.


DW-TV: Another chance would be to just raise the level of the good cholestrol - HDL. Are doctors trying that?


Kristof Graf: Well there are a lot of attempts. I think there is a drug which has recently been taken off the market. And there are new approaches, which are kind of mimicking what the Garda gene does. There is something you change and then you get an improvement of the HDL and you get a benefit for cardiovascular disease. And I'm quite hopeful that there are new drugs coming which can also be taken orally and that would be a good concept for a new treatment.


(Interview: Ingolf Baur)