Sunday, December 6th: 3:30 – 5:30 pm
Targeting the Vessels and the Heart: Oral Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Stimulator (Vericiguat) and Cardiac Myosin Activator (Omecamtiv Mecabril)
Heart failure (HF) is among the most common, CV diseases, and rates are on the increase. While strides have been made, optimal treatment of HF remains a challenge. Among the latest advances in CV medicine are agents that target the vessels of the heart. Two novel agents on the horizon are vericiguat, an oral soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator, and omecamtiv mecarbil a selective cardiac myosin activator. Are these agents effective? Do they improve mortality? Do they improve patient quality of life and well-being? How do they work? Are they for all heart failure patients? Are they safe?
This session will be chaired by Prof. Barbara Casadei from the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, Oxford, GBR and Dr. John Teerlink from the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Francisco, CA, USA. The session boasts presentations from the principal investigators of two exciting new trials of treatments for HF and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) that target the vessels of the heart. Dr. Paul W. Armstrong (Alberta, CAN), will present the main results of VICTORIA, which assessed vericiguat, and Dr. John Teerlink (San Francisco, USA) will present early results of the GALACTIC‐HF, which assessed omecamtiv mecarbil.
Over a median of 10.8 months, vericiguat was associated with a fewer primary-outcome events (composite of death from CV causes or first hospitalization for HF) than placebo (35.5% vs. 38.5%; HR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.82 to 0.98; P=0.02). How will the results of GALACTIC compare? The two trials both enrolled patients with chronic HF (NYHA class ≥II). But GALACTIC enrolled patients with ejection fractions (EF) ≤35%, while in VICTORIA the cut off <45%. How do the patient populations compare, were patients in VICTORIA less severe overall? Additional speakers including Javed Butler (Jackson, USA), Ileana Piña (Detroit, USA), Burkert Pieske (Berlin, GER), and David DeMets (Madison, USA) will present a deeper look at these agents, and help put VICTORIA and GALACTIC into context during the moderated multi-stakeholder expert panel debate.