Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim’s SGLT2 inhibitor Jardiance (empagliflozin) has scored approval from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for the treatment of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).
The marketing authorisation is based on results from Lilly/Boehringer’s EMPEROR-Reduced trial, which investigated the safety and efficacy of Jardiance in patients with chronic HFrEF.
In this study, Jardiance demonstrated a 25% reduction in the combined relative risk of cardiovascular death or hospitalisation due to heart failure, compared to placebo.
Additional key secondary endpoints found that the SGLT2 inhibitor reduced the relative risk of first and recurrent hospitalisation for heart failure by 30% and significantly slowed kidney function decline.
“Approximately 200,000 new cases of heart failure are diagnosed in the UK each year and it remains a common cause of hospital admissions,” said Douglas Clark, head of Medical Affairs for UK and Ireland at Boehringer Ingelheim.
“We look forward to working with national regulatory authorities to make empagliflozin available for the thousands of people living with heart failure,” he added.
“This approval provides an important new treatment option which can now help the thousands of people with symptomatic chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction in the UK,” commented Mark Petrie, professor of Cardiology in the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences at the University of Glasgow.
“1.25 million hospital visits in England alone include a heart failure diagnosis as the cause or contributing factor. Providing new treatment options may help to address this pressure on the health service and benefit patients living with the impact of heart failure on their daily lives,” he added.
