Empagliflozin demonstrates significant improvement in heart failure outcomes
pharmafile | August 31, 2021 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |
Empagliflozin (Jardiance) showed a significant 21% relative risk reduction for the composite primary endpoint of cardiovascular death or hospitalisation for heart failure in adults with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) compared with placebo.
The benefit was independent of ejection fraction or diabetes status, establishing empagliflozin as the only compound to significantly improve outcomes for patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction.
Key secondary endpoint analyses showed that empagliflozin also reduced the relative risk of first and recurrent hospitalisations for heart failure by 27% and significantly slowed kidney function decline when compared to placebo.
Iain Squire, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Leicester, and Lead Investigator for EMPEROR-Preserved in the UK, said: “There are currently no clinically proven treatments we can offer people living with HFpEF that can have such a positive impact on their condition or reduce their chances of being admitted to hospital for heart failure.
“But this data from the EMPEROR-Preserved trial firmly establishes the potential for a new treatment for HFpEF patients in the UK and Ireland.
“The primary endpoint demonstrated benefit for patients with ejection fraction above 40% and was consistent across further subgroups, including men and women, as well as those with and without diabetes, which underlines empagliflozin’s potential for improvement in patients’ quality of life and outcomes.”
In people aged over 65, heart failure is the most common cause of hospital admission in the UK and one of the most common causes in Ireland.
More than 60 million people worldwide have heart failure and approximately half of them have HFpEF, which is also known as diastolic heart failure. HFpEF has been described as the single largest unmet need in cardiovascular medicine based on prevalence, poor outcomes, and the absence of clinically proven therapies to date.
Dr Douglas Clark, Head of Medical Affairs for UK and Ireland at Boehringer Ingelheim, said: “Heart failure is a complex, serious health issue, a leading cause of hospitalisation and has a big impact on patients’ quality of life.
“The risk of death for people with heart failure rises with each hospital admission and with kidney function decline. The landmark EMPEROR-Preserved trial shows that empagliflozin brings significant benefit, which is welcome news for both the medical and patient communities.”
Lilly Subbotin
