Study shows kidney, diabetes drug may boost survival in heart failure patients

Finerenone -- a medication used to reduce the risk of kidney function decline -- can lower death risk and boost survival in patients with heart failure, which impacts more than 60 million people globally, according to a study.

The gradual loss of the heart's capacity to pump and fill with blood is known as heart failure. With no choices for treatment, around half of all heart failure patients have modestly diminished or retained left ventricular ejection fraction.

The study by Brigham and Women's Hospital in the US pointed out finerenone, a non-steroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, as a potential new treatment option for patients. Finerenone is also used to treat chronic kidney disease (CKD) in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Principal investigator and corresponding author Scott Solomon, at Mass General Brigham noted that the drug represents a new drug class that may become a pillar of therapy for this disease.

The team conducted an international-level clinical trial by dividing over 6,000 patients into two groups -- the group that used Finerenone and the placebo group.

The finerenone group experienced fewer heart failure episodes and cardiovascular deaths (842) than the placebo group (1,024).

The percentage of patients who died from cardiovascular causes was 8.1 per cent and 8.7 per cent.

Finerenone was also associated with an increased risk of hyperkalemia -- too much potassium in the blood -- and a reduced risk of hypokalemia -- lower than normal potassium levels in the blood.

Solomon noted that benefits were seen among patients receiving other approved therapies as well as regardless of the ejection percentage.

The results were concurrently published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in 2024.