At the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) 73rd Annual Scientific Session, the results of Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim’s Phase III EMPACT-MI trial, which examined patients treated with sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitor (SGLT-2I) empagliflozin (Jardiance) following a heart attack, were reported. However, the treatment with empagliflozin did not impact the study’s primary endpoint of a combination of heart failure and hospitalization and all-cause mortality. Despite the outcome of the EMPACT-MI trial, Empagliflozin remains a competitive therapy in the heart failure (HF) market, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Data presented from EMPACT-MI investigated the safety and efficacy of empagliflozin in 6,000 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Empagliflozin has previously been identified to improve cardiovascular (CV) outcomes in patients with HF, patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) who have high CV risk, and patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). It is likely the market share for empagliflozin across T2D, HF, and CKD will increase in direct competition with the other market-leading SGLT-2I, AstraZeneca’s dapagliflozin (Farxiga).

Akash Patel, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “For patients with an increased risk of HF after AMI, treatment with empagliflozin did not impact the primary endpoint. However, improvement was seen in HF hospitalization rates when examined individually, with patients 23% less likely to be hospitalized for HF for the first time and 33% less likely to experience any HF hospitalization and all-cause mortality.”

The potential for SGLT-2I therapies to treat HF with or without T2D remains significantly promising, and the data from this study demonstrating improvement in HF hospitalization rates is consistent with studies in populations using SGLT-2Is in T2D and CKD.

Patel concludes: “An unmet need remains in the HF space to reduce the risk of new-onset HF and other common complications after an AMI and it has previously been found that in chronic HF, Jardiance reduces the risk of CV death and HF hospitalization. SGLT-2I therapies have strong clinical data to support improved outcomes for patients with cardio-metabolic disorders.”