The American College of Cardiology launched an initiative on Wednesday to reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease events globally by closing gaps in clinical prevention guidelines.
Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide despite decades of research and treatment advances. While lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol significantly drops the risk of heart attacks and strokes, real-world clinical care often fails to hit these targets consistently.
The new initiative, named ADVANCE-ASCVD, targets persistent gaps in knowledge about cardiovascular disease prevention and implementation in clinical practice. Roxana Mehran, president of the American College of Cardiology, detailed the strategic shift in the organization’s announcement, News-Medical reported.
Instead of merely improving post-onset disease management, modern medicine enables practitioners to spot vulnerabilities sooner and take action before conditions manifest, noted Mehran in her capacity as ACC President.
By moving past occasional evaluations toward ongoing, extended monitoring, ADVANCE-ASCVD helps drive one of the most critical transformations in heart health management since preventive treatments became widely used.
The initiative organizes its efforts around five strategic pillars covering education, clinical implementation, pragmatic research, patient population health, and digital innovation. Merck serves as a founding sponsor, supporting an initial portfolio focused on lipid-related cardiovascular risk and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol management.
- Targeting Bad Cholesterol: The initiative focuses heavily on reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, known as LDL-C, which directly drives arterial plaque buildup.
- Shifting to Early Detection: Care is moving away from isolated check-ups toward continuous risk tracking before clinical disease appears.
The framework aligns directly with the recently released 2026 ACC/AHA Guideline on the Management of Dyslipidemia. This guidance explores approaches to improving awareness, risk identification, treatment optimization, and patient engagement across diverse care settings.
| Initiative Pillar | Strategic Focus | Core Objective |
|---|---|---|
| Education & Knowledge | Guideline-aligned resources | Help care teams translate evolving evidence into practice |
| Implementation Science | Decision-support strategies | Address barriers to evidence adoption in healthcare systems |
| Evidence Generation | Real-world data and insights | Evaluate care patterns and identify treatment gaps |
Bjorn Oddens, senior vice president and head of value and implementation at Merck Research Laboratories, addressed the persistence of treatment gaps in the announcement reported by News-Medical.
“Despite decades of progress, a significant gap still remains between what we know about preventing cardiovascular disease and how that care is delivered to patients in the real world,” said Bjorn Oddens, MD, PhD, senior vice president and head of value and implementation at Merck Research Laboratories.
Through its support of ADVANCE-ASCVD, Merck aligns with a joint objective shared alongside the ACC: tackling the cardiovascular crisis to positively impact patients’ lives.
- American College of Cardiology. News-Medical.
- American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association ACC/AHA Guideline on the Management of Dyslipidemia.
