Boehringer Ingelheim and Lilly launch new heart failure drug trials

Boehringer Ingelheim and Lilly have launched new clinical trials assessing the benefits of a promising new treatment for chronic heart failure.

The new EMPEROR HF clinical trial programme will consist of two phase III outcome studies investigating empagliflozin for the treatment of adults with chronic heart failure, including individuals with and without type 2 diabetes.

Specifically, they will enrol chronic heart failure patients with either preserved ejection fraction or reduced ejection fraction, assessing the impact of treatment on cardiovascular death and hospitalisation rates for heart failure as primary endpoints.

Between them, the two trials will involve approximately 7,000 patients and are expected to be completed in 2020.

Professor Hans-Juergen Woerle, global vice-president for medicine for Boehringer Ingelheim's metabolism unit, said: "Our new studies aim to explore the potential of empagliflozin for patients affected by heart failure. At the same time, these studies mark the first time empagliflozin will be evaluated in people without type 2 diabetes."

Sold under the brand name Jardiance, empagliflozin was primarily developed as a type 2 diabetes medicine, but has also been shown to deliver reductions in the the risk of cardiovascular death.

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