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Press Release

New drug hope for heart failure patients

19 August 2011

Helping muscles in the heart contract for longer rather than merely forcing the organ to beat more often could hold the key for hundreds of thousands of people in the UK.

Heart failure affects around 750,000 in the country, leaving them exhausted and often breathless performing seemingly innocuous tasks. Now a new drug could be set to offer considerable improvement to their lifestyles.

Targeting proteins that make the heart contract, omecamtiv mecarbil increases the amount of blood being pumped out with each stroke.

Part of a new class of drugs, myosin activators, it has been proven to help the heart contract more effectively and improve its functioning.

The Lancet medical journal has reported that in a recent British trial the heart function of 45 failure patients was significantly improved by omecamtiv mecarbil.

Study leader Professor John Cleland, from the University of Hull, said: 'The trial proves that the drug can be given safely to patients suffering from heart failure and shows that, at the correct doses and blood plasma concentrations, it can improve heart function and make the heart contract more effectively.'



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