NICE approves new treatment for chronic heart failure

pharmafile | February 7, 2022 | News story | Sales and Marketing  

Empagliflozin (Jardiance®) has received a positive NICE recommendation for the treatment of chronic heart failure. NICE has announced that empagliflozin will be recommended as a clinical and cost effective treatment option for adult patients with symptomatic chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) as an add-on to optimised standard care. 

Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction means the heart cannot contract normally. The prevalence of heart failure is now similar to the four most common cancers combined (breast, prostate, lung, and bowel cancer).

“Each year over one million hospital visits in England alone include a heart failure diagnosis as the cause or contributing factor,” Professor Simon Williams, Past Chair of The British Society for Heart Failure, the professional association for heart failure care in the UK, commented. “Heart failure is a complex long term condition, rarely existing in isolation and can be the final destination for a considerable number of cardiovascular diseases. This positive recommendation for empagliflozin by NICE now provides a potentially important new treatment option for adults with symptomatic chronic HFrEF, which may help in avoiding hospitalisations and possibly reduce the growing pressures on our health service.”

Heart failure is a chronic, long term and potentially fatal condition, which occurs when the heart does not pump blood around the body as effectively as it should. People with heart failure often experience breathlessness and fatigue, which can severely impact their quality of life. While heart failure can be treated and managed, it is a progressive condition, and delayed diagnosis can lead to more severe heart failure at the point of diagnosis.

Heart failure affects an estimated 920,000 people in the UK, 64% of whom have HFrEF. Heart failure is one of the leading causes of avoidable hospitalisations, and is associated with considerable NHS resource utilisation, and a detrimental impact on patients’ quality of life and life expectancy.

Ana Ovey

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