Finerenone -- a medication used to reduce the risk of kidney function decline -- can lower death risk and boost survival in patients with heart failure, which impacts more than 60 million people globally, according to a study.
The gradual loss of the
heart's capacity to pump and fill with blood is known as heart failure. With no
choices for treatment, around half of all heart failure patients have modestly
diminished or retained left ventricular ejection fraction.
The study by Brigham and
Women's Hospital in the US pointed out finerenone, a non-steroidal
mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, as a potential new treatment option for
patients. Finerenone is also used to treat chronic kidney disease (CKD) in
patients with type 2 diabetes.
Principal investigator
and corresponding author Scott Solomon, at Mass General Brigham noted that the
drug represents a new drug class that may become a pillar of therapy for this
disease.
The team conducted an
international-level clinical trial by dividing over 6,000 patients into two
groups -- the group that used Finerenone and the placebo group.
The finerenone group
experienced fewer heart failure episodes and cardiovascular deaths (842) than
the placebo group (1,024).
The percentage of
patients who died from cardiovascular causes was 8.1 per cent and 8.7 per cent.
Finerenone was also
associated with an increased risk of hyperkalemia -- too much potassium in the
blood -- and a reduced risk of hypokalemia -- lower than normal potassium
levels in the blood.
Solomon noted that
benefits were seen among patients receiving other approved therapies as well as
regardless of the ejection percentage.
The results were
concurrently published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at
the European Society of Cardiology Congress in 2024.
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