Cardiology Month in Review: September 2024
The HCPLive Cardiology month in review for September 2024 spotlights ESC Congress 2024, Family Heart Global Summit, pipeline updates, and more!
September was a historic month for the field of cardiology. Headlined by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2024 and further bolstered by pipeline news as well as other updates, September boasted a multitude of storylines pertaining to several subspecialties within the field of cardiology, including lipidology, heart failure, hypertension, and more.
In our September 2024 cardiology month in review, we offer a recap of the news and stories that defined the month in cardiology, including regulatory updates, pipeline developments, ESC Congress 2024, the 2024 Family Heart Global Summit, and the APAC Recap, a new multimedia series created in collaboration with the Academy of Physician Associates in Cardiology.
FDA News & Pipeline Developments
FDA Grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation to Plozasiran for FCS
The US Food and Drug Administration has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to investigational plozasiran as an adjunct to diet for reducing triglycerides in adults with familial chylomicronemia syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterized by extremely elevated triglyceride levels. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals announced on September 10, 2024, that they plan to submit a New Drug Application by the end of the year, with additional regulatory filings globally.
Plozasiran, an RNA interference therapeutic, targets apolipoprotein C-III to reduce triglyceride levels. In the phase 3 PALISADE trial, plozasiran significantly reduced triglyceride levels and pancreatitis incidence compared to placebo, showing median triglyceride reductions of up to 80%.
EDG-7500 Achieves Positive Phase 2 Results in Obstructive HCM
Edgewise Therapeutics announced positive topline data from Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials of EDG-7500, a novel oral cardiac sarcomere modulator aimed at treating obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). In healthy subjects from the Phase 1 trial, EDG-7500 was well-tolerated, with no significant changes in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). In the single-dose arm of the Phase 2 CIRRUS-HCM trial, EDG-7500 showed a notable reduction in left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) gradients without affecting LVEF.
Patients receiving 100 to 200 mg doses of EDG-7500 experienced a 67% mean reduction in resting LVOT gradients and a 64% reduction in NT-proBNP, a heart failure marker, suggesting potential benefits for treating diastolic dysfunction. Edgewise plans to report 28-day data in the first quarter of 2025.
ESC Congress 2024
Boasting 4,400 novel abstracts, including 112 studies simultaneously published in medical journals, ESC Congress 2024 reaffirmed its position atop the list of most impactful medical meetings. With 32,000 attendees from more than 170 countries, the meeting served as a platform for debuting science and breakthroughs that could impact standards of care for cardiovascular disease management and prevention for decades, including new data from finerenone, milvexian, aficamten, and more. Below is a list of highlighted interviews with leading subject matter experts related to the meeting.
Key Opinion Leader Perspectives:
- Kausik Ray, MD, MPhil, on INTERASPIRE and Lp(a)
- Deepak Bhatt, MD, MPH, MBA, on EMPACT-MI KIDNEY
- Ahmad Masri, MD, MS, on Aficamten in HCM
- Brendon Neuen, MBBS, PhD, on Combination Therapy with GLP-1s and SGLT2i
Don't Miss a Beat: Finerenone's Role in Heart Failure from ESC Congress Data
In this ESC Congress 2024 edition of Don’t Miss a Beat, Stephen Greene, MD, an advanced heart failure specialist at Duke University School of Medicine, discusses the prospect of finerenone in treatment algorithms for heart failure with Muthiah Vaduganathan, MD, MPH, codirector of the Center for Cardiometabolic Implementation Science of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, who served as an investigator on the FINEARTS-HF trial and presenter of FINE-HEART.
ESC Congress Recap: High-Impact Clinical Trials, with Deepak Bhatt, MD, MPH, MBA
For a recap of top trials, check out our interview with Deepak Bhatt, MD, MPH, MBA, director of the Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital and the Dr. Valentin Fuster Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Family Heart Global Summit
The editorial team of HCPLive Cardiology was back on the road later in the month—this time in Dallas, TX for the Family Heart Foundation’s 2024 Family Heart Global Summit. A 3-day meeting, held from September 22 to 24, 2024, the Family Heart Global Summit featured 6 sessions, with presentations on topics ranging from the impact of policy, historic trends in management for underserved populations, the future of lipoprotein(a) therapies, and more. During the meeting, HCPLive Cardiology covered these sessions and interviewed nearly a dozen subject matter experts in cardiology. Check out some of our highlights below!
Key Opinion Leader Perspectives:
- Steve Nissen, MD: Optimizing Lp(a) Management by Learning from Missteps with LDL-C
- Promising Emergent Therapies for Lowering Lp(a), with Michelle O’Donoghue, MD, MPH
- The Value of Team-Based Care, Technology in Managing CVD Risk Factors, with Benjamin Scirica, MD
- Advances in Non-Statin Therapies for Dyslipidemia, with Christie Ballantyne, MD
Introducing The APAC Recap!
A collaborative effort between HCPLive and the Academy of Physician Associates in Cardiology (APAC), this multimedia series was born from 1 simple goal: Improving care through shared insights from medical meetings.
Each episode will feature a discussion surrounding key takeaways and practice-altering updates from recent medical meetings APAC members have attended. All episodes of The APAC Recap will be available on HCPLive.com and on our YouTube channel.
