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A28 SCIENCE
Friday 22 November 2019

In this Thursday Oct. 18, 2012 file photo, passengers board a
London-bound EasyJet flight at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport,
Netherlands.
Associated Press
Doubts cast on easyJet

plan to be net-zero

emissions airline This May 26, 2009 file photo shows a printout from an electrocardiogram machine in Missouri.
Associated Press
By DANICA KIRKA "People have a choice in New, old drugs may offer fresh
Associated Press how they travel and peo-
LONDON (AP) — European ple are now thinking about ways to fight heart disease
budget airline easyJet said the potential carbon im-
Tuesday it will become the pact of different types of By MARILYNN MARCHIONE it also lowers heart attacks and other
first major carrier to oper- transport,'' said easyJet's AP Chief Medical Writer problems, not just cholesterol. Inclisiran's
ate net-zero carbon flights, CEO Johan Lundgren. "But PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Novel drugs may maker, The Medicines Company, plans
offsetting climate-warm- many people still want to offer fresh ways to reduce heart risks be- to seek federal approval for it later this
ing emissions from the fuel fly and if people choose yond the usual medicines to lower cho- year. Two other RNA interference drugs
used on every flight. to fly we want to be one of lesterol and blood pressure. aim at a different target — triglycerides,
Climate experts, however, the best choices they can One new study found that heart attack another fat in the blood that's elevated
warn that such efforts are make.'' survivors benefited from a medicine long in one quarter of Americans. Treatments
stopgap measures at best "Aviation will have to re- used to treat gout. Several experimental include very low-fat diets, weight loss,
and that, with few op- invent itself as quickly as it drugs also showed early promise for in- fish oil and drugs, but doctors say more
tions to reduce emissions can," Lundgren said. terfering with heart-harmful genes with- and better therapies are needed. Each
from planes, the real focus Unlike the auto industry, out modifying the genes themselves — RNA interference drug was tested at
should be on flying less. which is increasingly focus- in one case, with treatment just twice a various doses in 40 people. A single shot
EasyJet said it will offset the ing on purely electric cars, year. The research was featured at an lowered triglycerides by 30% to 67%,
carbon "by investing in proj- battery-powered travel is American Heart Association conference and the benefit lasted for at least four
ects that include planting not technically feasible for ending Monday in Philadelphia. months. The studies were just intended
trees or protecting against planes in the foreseeable "There's a lot of excitement" about the to show safety; Arrowhead Pharmaceu-
deforestation.'' future. Rather, companies new gene-targeting medicines, espe- ticals is developing both drugs. Other
That is estimated to cost are trying to reduce the cially because they seem to last so long, research found new benefits from older
about 25 million pounds weight of jets and are test- said Dr. Karol Watson, of the University of drugs. AstraZeneca's Farxiga, originally
($32 million) across the air- ing new fuels, including California, Los Angeles. developed to treat diabetes, also low-
line, which last year carried biofuels. Scientists have been exploring gene ered the risk of heart problems in heart
88.5 million people on al- Climate campaign therapy — altering DNA — to attack the failure patients who did not have dia-
most 560,000 flights. groups like Greenpeace root cause of many diseases. The new betes. Among 2,605 of such patients
The airline described the cast doubt on easyJet's drugs essentially accomplish the same treated for 18 months, about 9% of those
carbon-offset effort as an plan, pointing to analy- thing without tampering with genes, said on Farxiga had worsening heart failure
"interim measure" while sis that suggests offsetting the University of Pennsylvania's Dr. Dan- or heart-related death versus nearly 13%
new technologies are be- schemes are not as effec- iel Rader, who has consulted for some of those not given the drug. That worked
ing developed, including tive as some make them makers of these drugs. The medicines out to a 27% lower risk, without extra seri-
efforts to develop hybrid out to be. The group sug- work by silencing or blocking messages ous side effects. Surprising benefits also
and electric planes. The gests that to truly help the that genes give to cells to make proteins were seen in a Canadian study of the
measure is part of other environment, authorities that can do harm, such as allowing cho- decades-old gout drug. The anti-inflam-
initiatives to reduce emis- would have to impose a lesterol to accumulate. The first few of matory drug colchicine — sold as Col-
sions, such as using a single frequent flier tax to reduce these "RNA-interference" drugs recently crys, Mitigare and in generic form — was
engine when taxiing. the number of flights.q were approved for other conditions, and tested in 4,745 people who recently had
research is also targeting heart disease. a heart attack. After about two years,
Farthest along is inclisiran, tested in colchicine users had a 23% lower risk of
1,561 people with heart disease from suffering a new heart attack, heart-relat-
clogged arteries who still had high LDL, ed death, stroke, cardiac arrest or urgent
the bad form of cholesterol, despite tak- need for an artery-opening procedure
ing standard drugs. They were given a compared with a group given dummy
shot of inclisiran or a dummy drug when pills. The benefit came mostly from pre-
they joined the study, three months lat- venting strokes and artery-opening pro-
er and then every six months. The drug cedures, and some heart doctors would
lowered LDL by 56% without serious side rather have seen more difference in
effects. More testing will show whether heart attacks and deaths.q