Results from 8 late-breaking clinical trials presented at Heart Fa...( Results and updates from eight studi...),Health

Results and updates from eight studies were presented during a late-breaking trials session at Heart Failure 2009. Reviewing them at a press conference, Professor John McMurray, President of the Heart Failure Association, described the trials' objectives and main implications.

A multicentre study of a new inotropic drug (which increases the contraction and pumping of the heart), CK-1827452, found that it increases systolic function in stable heart failure patients and was well tolerated in a proof of concept study. CK-1827452 is a new drug in a class known as Selective Cardiac Myosin Activators. Bigger trials are now needed to assess safety and effect on clinically meaningful endpoints.

Pre-RELAX-AHF is another proof of concept study with an interesting new vasodilator drug (relaxin), a hormone produced by the ovaries and placenta during pregnancy which causes expansion of the cervix and uterus. Because relaxin also relaxes arteries and veins, it reduces the resistance to bloodflow in these vessels - and hence the work the heart has to do to pump blood through them. Results of this trial are encouraging and showed that relaxin given for 48 hours produce rapid and sustained improvement in breathlessness and other heart failure symptoms, with a favourable impact on clinical outcomes at 60 days. Again, bigger trials are now needed to assess safety and effect on clinically meaningful endpoints.

CHANCE (Congestive Heart failure: A multidisciplinary Non-pharmacological approach for Changing in rE-hospitalisation and prognosis) is an important study from Russia looking at whether post-discharge non-pharmacological interventions by nurses and other health professionals could reduce the risk of hospital readmission. The study found that an approach of patient education and active follow-up (added to optimal medical care) decreased morbidity and mortality. This reinforces the findings of previous studies in other countries and suggests that
'/>"/>