Study Type
Interventional - Drug
completed
EPIC STEMI was a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled parallel group clinical trial evaluating the effects of acute treatment with a PCSK9 inhibitor, alirocumab, versus placebo, on low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in 100 high-risk patients presenting with STEMI and referred for primary PCI.
The objective was to determine the effect of acute, rapid lowering of LDL cholesterol with alirocumab added to high dose statin therapy in patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI.
The hypothesis was that in patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI, rapid lowering of LDL cholesterol with a PCSK9 inhibitor (alirocumab) – initiated in the acute setting pre-PCI – will favourably affect LDL cholesterol concentrations compared with placebo.
EPIC STEMI, TCT 2022 (download PDF)Study Design
A randomized, double-blind, placebo RCT
NO. of Countries
1
NO. of Sites
1
NO. of Participants
100
Study Period
2019 - 2021
Sponsor
PHRI
Shamir Mehta
Senior Scientist
Shamir Mehta
Senior Scientist
Shamir Mehta is a Senior Scientist with the Acute Coronary Syndrome and Interventional Cardiology research program at PHRI. He holds the Douglas A. Holder Endowed Chair and is a Professor of Medicine at McMaster University. Mehta directs the Royal College fellowship in interventional cardiology and leads the mitral and tricuspid valve transcatheter edge-to-edge repair programs at Hamilton Health Sciences and McMaster University. He completed his medical education and postgraduate training at the University of Toronto, followed by a research fellowship at McMaster University, supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Award.
At PHRI, he leads landmark clinical trials that evaluate revascularization strategies and new pharmacologic interventions for patients with acute coronary syndromes. Mehta is the Principal Investigator of the COMPLETE-2 trial, a 5,100-patient multinational study comparing physiology-guided and angiography-guided PCI strategies for treating non-culprit lesions in patients with acute coronary syndrome and multivessel coronary artery disease. This trial includes a large-scale intracoronary imaging study using optical coherence tomography to predict cardiovascular events. He also serves on the executive committee of the Librexia ACS trial, which is testing a novel Factor XIa inhibitor in acute coronary syndromes, and he is a steering committee member of OCEAN(a), focusing on targeted lowering of lipoprotein(a) with a novel small interfering RNA after acute coronary syndrome or PCI.
Dr. Mehta has published hundreds of research articles and has secured millions of dollars in peer-reviewed research grants from CIHR and industry. In 2022, he received the Canadian Cardiovascular Society’s Research Achievement Award. In 2024, he received the Canadian Association of Interventional Cardiology Outstanding Achievement Award.
Tara McCready
Program Director
Tara McCready
Program Director
Tara McCready, PhD, oversees a variety of collaborative programs at PHRI, and serves as Project Manager for PHRI research studies and registries.
She was recruited to PHRI as a Program Director for the Canadian Network and Centre for Trials Internationally (CANNeCTIN), a national network funded by the CIHR/CFI Clinical Research Initiative program to improve the prevention and treatment of cardiac and vascular diseases and diabetes.
Previously the Executive Director of the Canadian Maternal, Infant, Child and Youth Research Network, Tara holds a PhD in Biochemistry and a MBA in Technology Commercialization from the University of Alberta.
Sanofi
VIDEO: Shamir Metha on EPIC STEMI with C. Michael Gibson at TCT 2022
