Tag: Valsartan

A common cardiac drug called valsartan has shown positive results in those who carry the gene for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy but who do not have overt disease. 

As reported by Dr. Carolyn Ho of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School at the online European Society of Cardiology meeting, the Phase 2 double blind VANISH trial looked at 178 pre-symptomatic young people who carried a sarcomere gene mutation known to cause HCM.  These patients were randomly assigned to take either  valsartan, an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB), or a placebo.  

At the time of trial enrollment, these patients showed no or only mild signs of the disease.  At the end of the two year trial, the individuals who took valsartan had a better overall cardiac picture compared to the group taking only the placebo.

Dr. Ho had this to say in a story about the trial results in Mirage News:  

“Valsartan improved cardiac structure/function and remodeling in patients with early stage sarcomeric HCM, suggesting that this strategy may help prevent disease progression among those who have received a genetic diagnosis of HCM.”  

“Our results suggest that valsartan may not only stabilize disease progression but may also promote improvement.” 

You can also read this summary of the presentation on MedPage Today.