Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Lipids / 01.04.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor F. J. Raal, FRCP, FCP(SA), Cert Endo, MMED, PhD Director, Carbohydrate & Lipid Metabolism Research Unit Professor & Head, Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? How does Evinacumab differ from the three drugs used in triple therapy for this severe form of hypercholesterolemia? Response:      Despite available lipid lowering therapies, the vast majority of patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia are unable to achieve desirable LDL-cholesterol levels and remain at high risk for premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Unlike statins and PCSK9-inhibitors which act mainly by upregulating LDL receptor activity on the cell surface, evinacumab, a monoclonal antibody inhibitor of ANGPTL3, acts independent of the LDL receptor. (more…)
AstraZeneca, Author Interviews, Diabetes, Heart Disease, JAMA / 01.04.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: John J. V. McMurray,  MD FRCP FESC FACC FAHA FRSE FMedSci British Heart Foundation Cardiovascular Research Centre University of Glasgow Glasgow, United Kingdom  Kieran F Docherty DAPA-HF investigator British Heart Foundation Cardiovascular Research Centre, University of Glasgow     MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: DAPA-HF was a double-blind randomized controlled trial comparing dapagliflozin 10 mg once daily with placebo in 4744 patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). The primary outcome was a composite of time to occurrence of a worsening heart failure event (principally heart failure hospitalization) or cardiovascular death, whichever came first. Dapagliflozin reduced the primary outcome by 26% and reduced the risk of each of heart failure hospitalization and cardiovascular death individually, as well as overall mortality. Patient symptoms were also improved. The aim of the present report was to examine the effect of dapagliflozin separately in patients with and without type 2 diabetes at baseline (45/55% split in the trial). The reason for this was that dapagliflozin was originally introduced as a glucose-lowering medication for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. We find that dapagliflozin was equally beneficial in patients with and without diabetes and was as well tolerated in patients without diabetes as in those with diabetes. More remarkably, among the patients without diabetes, dapagliflozin was as effective in participants with a completely normal glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) as in those with prediabetes. In patients with a normal HbA1c, dapagliflozin did not lead to any reduction in HbA1c, but did improve clinical outcomes.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, NEJM, Stanford / 31.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: David J. Maron, MD, FACC, FAHA Clinical Professor of Medicine Chief, Stanford Prevention Research Center Director, Preventive Cardiology Stanford University School of Medicine  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, whether clinical outcomes are better in those who receive an invasive intervention plus medical therapy than in those who receive medical therapy alone is uncertain. The goals of treating patients with stable coronary disease are to reduce their risk of death and ischemic events and to improve their quality of life. All patients with coronary disease should be treated with guideline-based medical therapy (GBMT) to achieve these objectives. Before the widespread availability of drug-eluting stents, strategy trials that tested the incremental effect of revascularization added to medical therapy did not show a reduction in the incidence of death or myocardial infarction. In one trial, fractional flow reserve–guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents, added to medical therapy, decreased the incidence of urgent revascularization but not the incidence of death from any cause or myocardial infarction at a mean of 7 months, whereas the 5-year follow-up showed marginal evidence of a decrease in the incidence of myocardial infarction. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease / 20.11.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Matthew Budoff MD Professor of Medicine, UCLA Endowed Chair of Preventive Cardiology Lundquist Institute Torrance, CA 90502 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We present the nine-month interim analysis results from the EVAPORATE mechanistic study of Icosapent Ethyl, after benefits were seen with the REDUCE-IT Trial, demonstrating 25% event reduction. This trial was a serial multi-detector computed tomographic (MDCT) study to look at plaque progression between icosapent ethyl (4 gm/day) and matching placebo.  (more…)