An international clinical trial has confirmed the usefulness of the heart failure drug vericiguat for a wider variety of patients.
Vericiguat was approved by the FDA in 2021 as a first-of-its-kind, once-daily oral treatment for patients with worsening chronic heart failure, based in part on the VICTORIA trial run by researchers at the University of Alberta’s Canadian VIGOUR Centre.
Now, a followup study published in The Lancet and also involving U of A researchers shows the drug also prevents deaths in stable patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).
A second paper published simultaneously, based on pooled analysis of data from both studies, shows that vericiguat significantly reduces the risk of heart failure hospitalization and cardiovascular death across a broad range of patients with HFrEF.
“These results underscore the drug’s significance as a potential treatment option for specific patient populations across the full spectrum of HFrEF,” says U of A professor of medicine Justin Ezekowitz, cardiologist at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute and president of the Canadian Heart Failure Society.
“It is wonderful that Alberta researchers and patients have helped move this treatment forward for patients around the world.”
The research received funding from Merck and Bayer.