October 2023 • PharmaTimes Magazine • 9
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Defibrillators should be given to high-risk heart failure patients
Researchers at King’s College London have produced new evidence from a multi-centre clinical trial suggesting that high-risk heart failure patients should receive an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) much sooner.
Funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), the research suggests that life-saving ICDs should be provided to heart failure patients at the highest risk of heart arrhythmia straightaway, rather than waiting until after stent insertion.
ICDs shock and kick-start the heart if it goes into a life-threatening rhythm or cardiac arrest.
Around 2.3 million people in the UK are living with coronary heart disease, which is the leading cause of heart failure.
Currently, doctors may first insert stents to open any blocked arteries, and patients will wait 90 days before being recommended for an ICD to see if the pumping function of the heart has improved.
In the trial, the researchers recruited 700 patients who had coronary heart disease and severely weakened function of the left ventricle of their heart from 40 hospitals across the UK.
After randomly assigning half of the patients to have stents fitted, the researchers found that stents did not improve the heart’s ability to pump, reduce the risk of heart rhythm disturbances, or reduce the number of cardiac arrests or deaths.
The researchers do still recommend stents as an effective treatment for heart attack patients or people with angina.
NICE recommends more genetic testing for links to ovarian cancer
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended that more people get tested for genes linked to ovarian cancer.
The new guideline aims to raise awareness and increase the availability of genetic testing, allowing people to take preventive measures, including surgery, to prevent the development of ovarian cancer.
Anyone can carry a gene linked to ovarian cancer, including women, men, transgender people and non-binary people, which can be passed on to their children.
In the UK, around 340,000 to 440,000 people carry one of the nine pathogenic variants – BRCA1, BRCA2, MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, RAD51C, RAD51D, BRIP1 and PALB2 – that cause cancer, 3% of whom know they have a high-risk gene.
NICE has recommended that genetic services should test and assess the likelihood of people carrying the genes, including those who have had certain cancers or if a blood relative has had breast or ovarian cancer.
Around 15% of women who develop ovarian cancer have a variant in either their BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, which are also linked to breast cancer, and could increase the risk of developing cancer by 60% and 30%.
Women, transgender men and non-binary people between the ages of 35 and 45, depending on the type of gene found, should be offered information and support as part of the discussion about the best option for reducing their risk of developing ovarian cancer.
HOT & NOT
The National Institutes of Health has announced that it has begun dosing patients in a phase 1 clinical trial of a new influenza vaccine candidate, FluMos-v2, to evaluate the vaccine for safety and its ability to elicit an immune response.
Sponsored by NIAID, the trial is expected to enrol 24 healthy individuals, aged 18 to 50 years, to receive two intramuscular injections of the vaccine candidate, 16 weeks apart.
Astellas Pharma has announced its plans to invest approximately €330m to build a new state-of-the-art facility in Tralee, Ireland.
The investment in Ireland will reinforce stable production for global supply and accelerate the development and commercialisation of innovative antibody drugs and other products.
Based on the Industrial Development Authority’s (ADA) greenfield site in Kerry Technology Park, Tralee, the facility will provide highly specialised engineering, science and technology roles to the area.
Salipro Biotech and Sumitomo Pharma have entered into a research collaboration to understand the pharmacological characteristics of a compound from Sumitomo’s drug discovery programme.
Both companies aim to reveal the mechanism of action and pharmacological characterisation of a drug candidate to advance Sumitomo’s drug discovery programme by characterising the drug candidate with therapeutic properties against a selected target.
Under the terms of the agreement, Swedish biotech Salipro will utilise its expertise in stabilising challenging membrane proteins.
Glasgow diagnostics spin-out, Microplate Dx, has secured £2.5m in seed funding to develop its point-of-care diagnostic platform to advance the effectiveness of antibiotics.
The platform, which confirms the presence of bacteria, guides a patient’s doctor to effective treatments by rapidly identifying which antibiotics to use and which ones to avoid.
The platform will initially be used to tackle urinary tract infections (UTIs) using urine samples inserted into the device, with results being returned within an hour.
Responding to the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives report, which shows that patient handover delays have increased in the last decade, Rory Deighton, director of the acute network at the NHS Confederation said:
"Ambulance handover delays are a significant challenge for the whole healthcare sector. We welcome this report highlighting the issues, as well as the positive changes being implemented across the country.”
The NHS has witnessed another historic walkout during September, this time involving consultants and junior doctors.
Both groups are due to continue the industrial action for several days in early October.
Now in the tenth month of action across the NHS, during this period more than 885,000 inpatient and outpatient appointments have been rescheduled.
Healthcare professionals and associated unions remain at loggerheads with the government and strikes are expected for the foreseeable future.