Boehringer Ingelheim - one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies have announced positive top-line results from the EMPEROR-Reduced Phase III the trial in adults with chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

The trial met its primary endpoint, demonstrating superiority empagliflozin (10mg) versus placebo on top of standard of care, in reducing the risk for cardiovascular death or hospitalisation due to heart failure.

Many Middle Eastern countries have observed increases in the prevalence of risk factors for heart failure, which is seen to develop in their populations at least 10 years earlier than in Western counterpart populations.

The risk factors include diabetes mellitus, obesity, and hypertension. Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction occurs when the heart muscle does not contract effectively and pumps out less blood to the body compared to a normally functioning heart. Symptoms associated with heart failure include breathlessness and fatigue, which can severely impact the quality of life.

There remains a high unmet need in the treatment of heart failure, as approximately 50 per cent of all those diagnosed with the condition die within five years. The EMPEROR-Reduced clinical trials form part of the EMPOWER clinical programme, one of the broadest, most comprehensive trials of any SGLT2 inhibitor, exploring the impact of treatments across cardio-renal- metabolic conditions.

Building on findings from EMPA-REG OUTCOME , these positive results demonstrate that empagliflozin has the potential to fill unmet therapeutic needs for people with this highly prevalent condition.

Full results from the EMPEROR-Reduced trial will be presented in a hotline session at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) congress 2020, which is being held 29 August.

A second trial, EMPEROR- Preserved, the results of which are expected in 2021, will explore the effect of empagliflozin on cardiovascular death and hospitalisation for heart failure in adults with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction 6 - an area of high unmet need as there are currently no treatment options available for people with this form of heart failure 7.