Story highlights Praluent is an alternative cholesterol lowering medication for patients who don't respond to statins or can't take them

Praluent is the first in a new class of drugs called PCSK9 inhibitors

The FDA has until the end of August to decide on Repatha, another new PCSK9 inhibitor

Atlanta (CNN) The FDA approved the new cholesterol lowering drug alirocumab, brand name Praluent, on Friday. The injectable drug, from Regeneron and Sanofi, is the first in a new class of drugs called PCSK9 inhibitors.

The drug works by making the liver more efficient at getting rid of LDL, or bad cholesterol.

Praluent is approved for patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, or HeFh, which is an inherited condition that causes high LDL cholesterol levels. It is also approved for patients who have had a heart attack or stroke. "It focuses on those who've truly had clinical disease or those who start out with such high levels of LDL they can't get anywhere near where they should be and I think those are the most at-risk people," said Dr. Donald A. Smith, associate professor of medicine and cardiology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

This offers another treatment option for patients who aren't responding to currently available medications or who can't take them because they experience side effects.

The currently available medications for lowering cholesterol are statins, of which there are seven on the market.

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