The lowering of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is the primary target of therapy in the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular events. Although statin therapy is the mainstay for LDL-C lowering, a significant percentage of patients prescribed these agents either do not achieve targets with statin therapy alone or have partial or complete intolerance to them. For such patients, the use of adjuvant therapy capable of providing incremental LDL-C reduction is advised. One such agent is ezetimibe, a cholesterol absorption inhibitor that targets uptake at the jejunal enterocyte brush border. Its primary target of action is the cholesterol transport protein Nieman Pick C1 like 1 protein. Ezetimibe is an effective LDL-C lowering agent and is safe and well tolerated. In response to significant controversy surrounding the use and therapeutic effectiveness of this drug, we provide an update on the biochemical mechanism of action for ezetimibe, its safety and efficacy, as well as the results of recent randomized studies that support its use in a variety of clinical scenarios.

BR, et al. Elagolix treatment for up to 12 months in women with heavy menstrual bleeding and uterine leiomyomas. Obstet Gynecol 2020;135. The authors provided this information as a supplement to their article.

(Abstracted from Obstet Gynecol 2020;135:1313–1326) Uterine leiomyomas affect up to 80% of reproductive-age women and are the most common benign neoplasm of the uterus. A variety of symptoms occur in approximately half of these women; the most common is heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB), which can result in anemia.