Our study design called for a run-in period in which background lipid-lowering therapy was adjusted on the basis of LDL cholesterol goals, according to the patient's ATP-III–defined cardiovascular risk. These risk-based lipid-lowering therapies ranged from diet alone to a combination of 80 mg of atorvastatin plus 10 mg of the cholesterol-absorption inhibitor ezetimibe daily. Percent reductions in LDL cholesterol in the evolocumab group, taking into account the change in the placebo group, differed slightly according to background therapy, ranging from 48.5% in the group receiving atorvastatin plus ezetimibe to 61.6% in the group receiving 10 mg of atorvastatin.