AstraZeneca Farxiga Extended in the US to Reduce Risk of Cardiovascular Death and Hospitalisation for Heart Failure to a Broader Range of Patients

AstraZeneca's (NASDAQ:AZN) Farxiga (dapagliflozin) has been approved in the US to reduce the risk of cardiovascular (CV) death, hospitalisation for heart failure (hHF) and urgent heart failure (HF) visits in adults with HF. The approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was based on positive results from the DELIVER Phase III trial.1 Farxiga was previously approved in the US for adults with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).

Ruud Dobber, Executive Vice-President, BioPharmaceuticals Business Unit, AstraZeneca, said: “Approximately half of heart failure patients die within five years of diagnosis, highlighting an urgent unmet need for well-tolerated treatment options that can bring life-saving benefits and reduce the risk of cardiovascular death. The approval of Farxiga in the US not only reinforces AstraZeneca’s commitment to reducing the burden of this complex and life-threatening disease, but will help patients across the full spectrum of heart failure lead healthier lives.”

HF is a chronic, long-term condition that worsens over time2 and affects almost seven million people in the US.3 It is also the leading cause of hospitalisation for those over 65 years and represents a significant clinical and economic burden.4 Approximately half of all HF patients have HF with mildly reduced ejection fraction (HFmrEF) or HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF)5 and these patients are not only at greater risk of death and hospitalisations but experience an especially high burden of symptoms and physical limitations, and a poor quality of life.6

The data from the DELIVER Phase III trial, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, showed Farxiga reached a statistically significant and clinically meaningful early reduction in the primary composite endpoint of CV death or worsening HF in patients with HF with HFmrEF or HFpE.F1 The results from a pre-specified, pooled analysis of the DAPA-HF and DELIVER Phase III trials, published in Nature Medicine, showed that the treatment effect of Farxiga on the composite endpoint of cardiovascular death, hospitalisation for heart failure or urgent heart failure was consistent across the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) range and established Farxiga as the first sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor to demonstrate a mortality benefit.7

Farxiga is approved for the treatment of patients with type-2 diabetes (T2D), HFrEF and chronic kidney disease (CKD) in more than 100 countries around the world including the US, the European Union (EU), China and Japan. It has most recently received regulatory approvals in the EU, Great Britain, Japan and Turkey to extend the HF indication to include patients across the full LVEF range.