Top in cardiology: FDA panel declines heart failure drug; risks of extreme temperatures

An FDA advisory committee declined to support an approval for the heart failure drug omecamtiv mecarbil, citing narrow benefits of the drug.

“I would have been encouraged if there was a quality-of-life benefit,” Steven E. Nissen, MD, MACC, said. “Why do patients want to take medications? They want to feel better. There wasn’t any evidence, despite 8,000 patients studied, of a meaningful quality of life benefit. That makes this less attractive.”

It was the top story in cardiology last week.

Another top story was about excess cardiovascular deaths from extreme temperatures. Researchers estimated that for roughly every 100 cardiovascular-related deaths, at least one additional death was due to extreme temperature.

Read these and more top stories in cardiology below:

FDA panel declines to support approval of omecamtiv mecarbil

An FDA advisory committee voted 8-3 against supporting the approval of the heart failure drug omecamtiv mecarbil, with panelists citing a small observed benefit for a limited group of patients. Read more.

‘Unprecedented pace’ of extreme temperatures associated with death from common CV conditions

A multinational data set across climate zones suggests an association between extreme hot and cold temperatures and cardiovascular cause-specific mortality, with the largest excess deaths associated with heart failure, researchers reported. Read more.

CVD remains leading cause of death globally

A multinational collaborative report of global disease trends and risk factors shows CVD remains the leading cause of death and hypertension remains the leading modifiable risk factor for premature cardiovascular death worldwide, researchers reported. Read more.

Single chest X-ray can predict ASCVD risk, determine statin eligibility

A deep-learning model using information from a single chest X-ray reliably predicted atherosclerotic CVD risk and statin eligibility when compared with a common risk calculator, researchers reported. Read more.

Alternative HF therapies could worsen symptoms, interact with prescribed medications

Complementary and alternative therapies for heart failure could potentially worsen symptoms and interact with prescribed medications, and clinicians and patients should be aware of a lack of federal regulation for such therapies, researchers wrote. Read more.