NEW ORLEANS — A record-breaking 4,432 scientific abstracts accepted at the American Heart Association’s meeting here adorned posters, animated panel discussions, or drew crowds to massive halls. They promised innovations in understanding and treating cardiovascular disease, long the leading cause of death in the United States and the world.
Gene therapies and RNA interference medications presented over the weekend presage a shift away from medicines like aspirin or statins, Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Steven Nissen told STAT. “Between the CRISPR-directed therapies and the nucleic acid-based therapies, we’ve left the era of small molecule medicine,” he said, citing his own early-stage study of a CRISPR-based treatment.
