Servier’s heart failure drug receives provisional NICE backing

Servier's new chronic heart failure therapy Procoralan has been granted a provisional recommendation by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

The UK regulator has issued final draft guidance recommending endorsing the ivabradine treatment as an option for patients with chronic heart failure who have a left ventricular ejection fraction of 35 percent or less.

Additionally, the guidance states that Procoralan should be taken in combination with standard therapy or when beta-blockers are contraindicated or not tolerated, and only after a stabilisation period of four weeks on optimised standard therapy.

This follows an evaluation by an independent committee in light of data from the Servier-initiated clinical trial Shift.

Professor Carole Longson, NICE's health technology evaluation centre director, said: "On the basis of the available evidence, ivabradine has been shown to have a beneficial effect in reducing mortality and improving quality of life in people with some types of chronic heart failure."

The drug is also indicated for the symptomatic treatment of chronic stable angina pectoris.