Novartis Announces The Establishment Of FortiHFy, But What Is It?

Novartis AG (ADR) NVS announced on Thursday the establishment of FortiHFy, short for Fortifying Heart Failure clinical evidence and patient quality of life.

FortiHFy is an umbrella clinical program that consists of over 40 active or planned trials. The global clinical program will result in the creation of new data on symptom reduction, efficacy, safety, quality of life benefits and real world evidence in Entresto, a twice-a-day medicine that reduces the strain on failing hearts.

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Some of the major trials include:

• 1. Examining the efficacy and safety of Entresto in heart failure patients with with preserved ejection fraction
• 2. Testing the hypothesis that Entresto can reduce cardiovascular death, heart failure hospitalizations and new onset heart failure in patients at high risk for heart failure after a myocardial infarction
• 3. Comparing in-hospital initiation of Entresto to initiation after hospital discharge in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) who have recently been hospitalized for acute decompensation
• 4. Investigating the effect of in-hospital initiation of Entresto on changes in NT-proBNP (compared to enalapril) in patients with HFrEF following an acute decompensation.

"The FortiHFy program reinforces our long term commitment to improving heart failure treatment for as many people as possible," said Vas Narasimhan global head, drug development and chief medical officer. "The outcomes of these trials will increase our understanding of heart failure, the patient population who may benefit from Entresto, and could potentially support applications to regulatory authorities."