A team of researchers from CINTESIS, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), and the Cardiology Service of the University Hospital Center of São João is participating in clinical trials with two groups of promising drugs in the treatment of heart failure.

For the moment, the test results are quite positive. Both drugs – RNAis – inhibitors of neprisilin and angiotensin receptors and inhibitors of the sodium-glucose cotransporter – managed to decrease mortality and hospitalization in these patients.

The trial PARADIGM-HF (Prospective Comparison of ARNI [Angiotensin Receptor–Neprilysin Inhibitor] with ACEI [Angiotensin-Converting–Enzyme Inhibitor] to Determine Impact on Global Mortality and Morbidity in Heart Failure Trial) demonstrates the effectiveness of the ARNis in the treatment of heart failure.

José Silva Cardoso, who coordinated the study in Portugal, explains that the ARNis are better than conventional drugs, reducing the risk of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure by 20%.

The CINTESIS researcher, professor at FMUP and cardiologist, also highlights the positive results obtained with sodium-glucose cotransporter inhibitors.

These drugs, already used in the treatment of diabetes, have proven to reduce mortality and hospitalizations in heart failure, namely in DAPA-HF and EMPEROR-Reduced studies, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Meanwhile, results of two trials on the efficacy of these drugs on the functional capacity of these patients should be published, both with the participation of the CINTESIS/FMUP team.

“The results of these investigations show us that there are other ways that we should explore in clinical practice, for the benefit of patients,” says José Silva Cardoso.

The researcher says, however, that it is still possible to do more for patients with heart failure. “Scientific research in this area cannot stop. We are talking about a disease that affects more than 400 thousand people in Portugal, who are left severely disabled and with a great deterioration in the quality of life. It is the first cause of hospitalizations over 65 years old ”, he says.

These and other topics will be addressed in “Advances in Heart Failure”, a meeting organized by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, which will take place online, on September 18 and 19.