The effect and safety of anacetrapib in the treatment of dyslipidemia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

<p><b>Background</b>: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Anacetrapib may be a new treatment option that has a cardiovascular benefit for the management of dyslipidemia.</p> <p><b>Objective</b>: The aim of our current study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effect and safety of anacetrapib in the treatment of dyslipidemia.</p> <p><b>Methods</b>: We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library database from their inception to 5 October 2017, with the terms: ‘anacetrapib’ and ‘placebo’. From 287 initial citations, 10 studies including 34781 patients with dyslipidemia were included in the final systematic review and meta-analysis.</p> <p><b>Results</b>: Pooled results showed that anacetrapib significantly increased high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) [weighted mean differences (WMD) 53.07, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 46.79 to 59.36] and apolipoprotein AI (ApoAI) (WMD 53.44, 95% CI 45.72 to 61.16). Our study also showed that anacetrapib significantly reduced low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (WMD −32.99; 95% CI −37.13 to −28.86), Non-HDL-C (WMD −39.19; 95% CI −52.22 to −26.16), triglycerides (TG) (WMD −9.97; 95% CI −10.54 to −9.41), apolipoprotein B (ApoB) (WMD −22.55; 95% CI −28.56 to −16.54) and lipoprotein a [LP(a)] (WMD −13.35; 95% CI −18.31 to −8.39). Our results demonstrated that there was no significant difference in all the following adverse events between the anacetrapib group and placebo group: [hepato-toxicity (OR 0.90, 95% CI: 0.75 to 1.07); musculoskeletal injury (OR 1.01, 95% CI: 0.88 to 1.15); drug-related adverse event (OR 1.00, 95% CI: 0.96 to 1.05); drug-related withdrawn (OR 1.01, 95% CI: 0.95 to 1.08)].</p> <p><b>Conclusions</b>: Although further studies are needed, our findings clearly offer support to the use of anacetrapib in the clinical management of patients with dyslipidemia.