Tag: ranolazine

Ranolazine Improves Chest Pain in HCM

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A recent paper by Italian HCM specialists found that chest pain completely resolved for 73% of patients who took the drug ranolazine. The researchers also found that the drug was safe and well tolerated.  In addition, it reduced arrhythmias for those whose arrhythmias were triggered by ischemia and it improved biomarkers in HCM patients.

This study is a follow up to the 2018 RESTYLE-HCM study, which found that while ranolazine did not improve heart failure symptoms in HCM, it was useful for treating chest pain.

HCM Treatment: The View from OHSU

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If you are looking for a good survey of current practices in the treatment of HCM, a recent article published in the journal Structural Heart by Dr. Ahmad Masri and the team at Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) provides an informative overview of thirty controversies and considerations in the treatment of HCM. This article explains in some detail how the doctors at this HCM Center approach these situations. 

Continue reading “HCM Treatment: The View from OHSU” →

The High Hanging Fruit: Treatment for Non-Obstructive HCM – Commentary by Dr. Sharlene Day

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A recent study conducted in the U.K. evaluated whether the anti-anginal drug trimetazidine would improve symptoms and exercise capacity for those patients with non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. 

Unfortunately, this study which was conducted by Dr. Perry Elliott and his colleagues at University College London, found that trimetatazidine did not improve exercise capacity in these patients. Following the results of this study, trimetazidine will now join ranolazine and spironolactone in the compost heap of drugs which tried and failed to improve HCM symptoms.  While a third drug, perhexiline, was found to improve symptoms for non-obstructive HCM, its limitations, including potentially serious side effects, stand in the way of its common usage.

In a companion editorial to this study entitled “Non-Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy-the High Hanging Fruit,” Dr. Sharlene Day of the University of Michigan’s HCM Center discusses the difficulties seen in drug trials related to non-obstructive HCM.

Continue reading “The High Hanging Fruit: Treatment for Non-Obstructive HCM – Commentary by Dr. Sharlene Day” →

Restyle HCM Study: Ranolazine Doesn’t Improve HOCM Heart Failure Symptoms

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Dr. Iacopo Olivotto and a team of Italian researchers conducted a recent multi-center trial of the late sodium channel blocker ranolazine.  The results of the trial showed that the drug failed to improve functional capacity, diastolic function, quality of life or brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels in 80 non-obstructive HCM patients.

Nevertheless, the researchers found that ranolazine is a very safe drug which may still be useful in the treatment of HCM by reducing arrhythmias and improving angina.

A companion editorial by Dr. Perry Elliot from the U.K. shed light on the difficulties inherent in designing clinical trials for HCM.  Dr. Elliot noted that Restyle HCM was the third unsuccessful attempt at finding a new drug for HCM in the past year since a study on  eleclazine, a drug with similar properties, and another for the drug perhexilene were both halted last year due to lack of efficacy.

Regardless, Dr. Elliot stated that increasing worldwide collaboration between HCM centers and expanding knowledge of certain sub-types of HCM treatable with specifically targeted therapies substantially improve the outlook for upcoming HCM drug trials.

End of the Road for Eleclazine and Liberty HCM Study

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 Eleclazine:  The Liberty HCM Trial

It appears to be the end of the road for the Gilead drug eleclazine, a late sodium channel inhibitor previously known as GS-6615.  Eleclazine, with properties similar to the anti-angina drug ranolazine (which was approved by the FDA in 2006), was the subject of a recently terminated HCM clinical trial known as Liberty-HCM.  The HCM eleclazine study focused on whether the drug would improve symptoms and exercise capacity in patients with HCM by increasing their peak oxygen uptake, resulting in improved VO2 max readings on exercise testing.  The HCM study began enrolling patients in February 2015. Data collection had been scheduled to continue through June 2017. Continue reading “End of the Road for Eleclazine and Liberty HCM Study” →