LCZ 696 success in study for Heart Failure with preserved ejection fraction

The Phase II PARAMOUNT study showed that the investigational compound LCZ 696 (Novartis) is the first therapy to significantly reduce a key predictor of morbidity and mortality in patients with a condition called heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HF-PEF). This difficult-to-treat disease affects up to half of the 20 million people with heart failure in Europe and the US The data were presented at the ESC Congress 2012 (European Society of Cardiology) in Munich, Germany, and published simultaneously in The Lancet.

The results show that after 12 weeks, LCZ 696 met its primary endpoint by reducing NT-proBNP - a marker of stress on the heart and a predictor of patient outcomes - significantly more than valsartan. The data also suggest that LCZ 696 may reverse some structural changes to the heart that occur in patients with heart failure. LCZ 696 is the first in a new class of medicines called angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitors (ARNIs). It works in a different way to existing heart failure treatments by inhibiting an enzyme (neprilysin,or NEP) in order to promote the body's protective mechanisms, and blocking receptors involved in the narrowing of blood vessels (angiotensin receptors).see Solomon S, Zile M, Pieske B, et al." The angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitor LCZ696 in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a phase 2 double-blind randomised controlled trial."- www.thelancet.com Published online August 26, 2012 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61227-6.