Omecamtiv Mecarbil Shows Efficacy in Heart Failure Regardless of Age: GALACTIC-HF Data
Key Insights
Post-hoc analysis of the GALACTIC-HF trial reveals that omecamtiv mecarbil reduces the risk of adverse cardiac events in severe heart failure (search) patients, irrespective of age.
The study, involving 8,232 patients, showed significant risk reductions in both younger (<65 years) and older (≥65 years) age groups over a 21.8-month follow-up.
Omecamtiv mecarbil demonstrated potential in reducing ventricular arrhythmia risk in patients with severely reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).
Cytokinetics (search) presented new data from post-hoc analyses of the Phase 3 GALACTIC-HF trial of omecamtiv mecarbil at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2024, demonstrating the drug's efficacy in reducing adverse cardiac outcomes in severe heart failure (search) patients regardless of age. The study involved 8,232 patients followed for a median of 21.8 months.
Consistent Risk Reduction Across Age Groups
The analysis showed that omecamtiv mecarbil reduced the risk for the primary composite endpoint of cardiovascular death or heart failure (search) events independent of age group (HR 0.77; 95% CI, 0.64-0.92 for patients <65 years and HR 0.83; 95% CI, 0.71-0.97 for patients ≥65 years; interaction p=0.72). These relative risk reductions were associated with large absolute risk reductions (8.6 and 7.9, respectively).
"These analyses reinforce the potential treatment benefit of omecamtiv mecarbil in patients from GALACTIC-HF who are at higher risk, such as older patients or those with a recent ventricular arrhythmia," said Stuart Kupfer, M.D., Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer at Cytokinetics (search).
Ventricular Arrhythmia Benefits
Further analysis investigated the clinical consequences of ventricular arrhythmias (search) (VA) in GALACTIC-HF patients. The data indicated that omecamtiv mecarbil was not associated with an increase in VA occurrence. Notably, in participants with severely reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF ≤28%), treatment with omecamtiv mecarbil appeared to reduce the risk for the composite outcome of VA, cardiac arrest, and sudden death (HR 0.77, 95% CI 0.63-0.94; p=0.009).
About Omecamtiv Mecarbil
Omecamtiv mecarbil is an investigational, selective cardiac myosin (search) activator designed to improve cardiac contractility without increasing intracellular myocyte calcium concentrations or myocardial oxygen consumption. It is currently under evaluation in the COMET-HF trial, a confirmatory Phase 3 study in patients with symptomatic heart failure (search) with severely reduced ejection fraction.