ACC: AstraZeneca’s Farxiga shows benefit in heart failure patients regardless of prior treatment

AstraZeneca’s SGLT2 diabetes med Farxiga is chugging ahead to a pioneering FDA approval in heart failure patents with or without Type 2 diabetes––a first in its class. As it awaits that nod, Farxiga has shown it can also be effective in treating heart failure patients regardless of other therapies they are receiving. 

Farxiga reduced the risk of heart failure worsening or death over placebo in heart failure patients regardless of other therapies received during the trial, according to data released Saturday at the American College of Cardiology scientific sessions. 

In the Dapa-HF outcomes trial, heart failure patients with a reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) had been treated with a broad range of other pharmaceuticals, device therapies and cardiac resynchronization therapies during treatment, AstraZeneca said. Irrespective of those other therapies, Farxiga showed a “consistent reduction” in its targeted CV outcomes across the board. 

“By reducing the risk of heart failure worsening regardless of background therapy, Farxiga has the potential to improve current standard of care and reduce the burden of disease for heart failure patients across the globe,” Mene Pangalos, AstraZeneca’s executive VP of biopharmaceuticals R&D, said in a release.

The new subanalysis from Dapa-HF could boost prescriptions for Farxiga in HFrEF, where the drug has already scored an FDA nod for patients who also have Type 2 diabetes. Meanwhile, the FDA is also reviewing the drug to treat heart failure patients with or without Type 2 diabetes––a potentially game-changing indication for the SGLT diabetes-fighting class on the whole.

RELATED: AstraZeneca’s Farxiga nabs FDA priority review for pioneering heart failure nod