Editorial commentary: Embracing colchicine as a new cornerstone therapy for coronary disease

• Published in: Trends in cardiovascular medicine Vol. 31; no. 8; pp. 505 - 506
• Main Author: Nidorf, Stefan Mark
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-11-2021; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Atherosclerosis; Clinical trials; Colchicine; Colchicine - adverse effects; Coronary Artery Disease - diagnosis; Coronary Artery Disease - drug therapy; Disease prevention; Heart diseases; Humans; Neutropenia; Patients; Rheumatism; Statins
• ISSN: 1050-1738; 1873-2615
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tcm.2020.10.012

By demonstrating the CV benefits of colchicine in both chronic and recently unstable coronary disease, these trials have laid the foundation for it to be adopted as a corner stone therapy for secondary prevention of coronary disease in much the same way as the 4S and CARE trials established the efficacy of statins in collectively in less than 8000 patients [14]. Notably, these trials, like the statin trials before them, recruited patients without regard for clinical or laboratory markers of risk, indicating that the benefits of colchicine can reasonably be expected in most patients with coronary disease. The CV benefits of colchicine demonstrated in the LoDoCo2 and COLCOT trials indicate that specifically targeting the inflammatory process in coronary disease is clinically meaningful. [...]newer agents are proven to be more effective than colchicine, it will remain the most effective, safest, most widely available and least expensive anti-inflammatory therapy for secondary prevention of coronary disease.