Eli Lilly’s Jardiance Reduces Death for Heart Failure Patients

Eli Lilly and Company recently announced that its prescription medicine, Jardiance, elicited a 21-percent relative risk reduction in death or hospitalization for heart failure patients compared to placebo. 

The Phase 3 Emperor-Preserved trial enrolled 5,988 individuals with heart failure. Participants randomly received Jardiance 10 milligrams or placebo once daily. About 4,005 patients in the trial had a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of 50 percent or more, and 1,983 had an LVEF below 50 percent.

Overall, Jardiance reduced the relative risk of first and recurrent hospitalizations for heart failure by 27 percent and substantially slowed kidney function decline. 

“For people with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, the reality is that so far there are no clinically proven treatments we can offer that would make a significant impact on their condition,” Stefan Anker, professor, Emperor-Preserved principal investigator, and heart failure cardiologist in Germany, said in the announcement. 

“This data brings hope for millions of patients suffering from heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction,” Anker continued. 

Over six million individuals in the US have heart failure and nearly half of them have preserved ejection fraction, also known as diastolic heart failure.

Earlier this month, FDA approved Jardiance to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death plus hospitalization for adults with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. 

Researchers investigated the effect of adding Jardiance 10 milligrams versus placebo to the standard of care in 3,730 adults with and without type 2 diabetes who had heart failure and LVEF of 40 percent or less.  

In the trial, Jardiance significantly reduced the risk of the primary composite endpoint of time to cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure by 25 percent versus placebo. 

The drug also substantially reduced the relative risk of first and recurrent hospitalization for heart failure by 30 percent. 

Jardiance is currently the first and only treatment to significantly improve outcomes for the full spectrum of heart failure patients. 

Research of Jardiance for heart failure and mortality in post-myocardial infarction patients with a high risk of heart failure is ongoing. And researchers are also investigating Jardiance in chronic kidney disease.

“These impressive results will bring hope for the millions of people who currently have limited therapeutic options for a very serious, life-threatening condition,” Jeff Emmick, MD, PhD, vice president of product development at Eli Lilly and Company, said in the announcement. 

“Now there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The results of EMPEROR-Preserved offer an opportunity to fundamentally change the future for people with heart failure,” Emmick concluded.