THE LARGEST global study into chronic heart failure has found that a drug made in Co Wicklow reduces death and hospitalisation due to heart failure by more than 25 per cent in at-risk patients.
The findings were outlined yesterday at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Sweden and are being published in the latest edition of the Lancet medical journal.
The drug ivabradine is made by French company Servier at its Arklow plant and is sold under the brand name Procoralan in Ireland.
The study, funded by Servier, involved more than 6,500 patients from 37 countries, including Ireland.
Ivabradine, which reduces heart rate, is normally used to treat angina. However, the study found that it also reduced death and hospitalisation due to heart failure by 26 per cent in patients with moderate to severe heart failure and a heart rate above 70 beats a minute.
An elevated heart rate is a strong predictor of a cardiovascular event in a wide range of patients. Ivabradine latches on to part of the electrical system that causes the heart to contract, slowing the heart rate.
The Servier-funded research, known as the Shift study, was described as “very significant” by Prof Ken McDonald, HSE national clinic programme director of heart failure.
Prof McDonald, a cardiologist at St Vincent’s hospital, said this was probably one of the most significant developments in the area of heart failure in many years and represented a new approach to the problem. “We have not seen results like Shift in heart failure in some time, so this is of major clinical importance. The problem of heart failure is reaching epidemic proportions in Ireland and worldwide due to our ageing population, so we urgently need better ways of managing this disease.”
He said doctors had been successful in treating heart attacks, “however, the result is that these patients remain with the left ventricle of their heart functionally impaired which usually leads to heart failure symptoms 10 years later.
“Figures show that if current hospitalisation rates continue, this will be unsupportable in the coming decade.”
He said about 250,000 people in Ireland either had chronic heart failure or were at risk of developing it.
More than 20,000 patients were admitted to hospital with heart failure in 2008 and 90 per cent of these were emergency admissions. Research has found that half of all heart failure patients die within four years.
The Shift study followed the participants for an average of 23 months. They were all receiving recommended heart-failure medication as well as either ivabradine or a placebo.
The study’s findings also highlighted the need for routine heart measurement – similar to blood pressure and cholesterol – to avoid further heart problems.
