More than a quarter of a million patients living with heart failure could be eligible for a new drug that reduces deaths and hospitalisation after medical regulators gave it the greenlight.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has approved dapagliflozin, made by AstraZeneca, for use on the NHS.
It can help treat patients with a form of chronic heart failure that means their blood does not pump blood out to the body as well as it should.
It is estimated almost one million people are living with heart failure in the UK which causes an estimated 65,000 unplanned hospital admissions a year. Around half of patients will die within five years of being diagnosed.
Evidence from a clinical trial shows that adding dapagliflozin to standard care lowers the risk of dying from heart disease and decreases hospitalisation or an urgent outpatient visit because of heart failure by 26% compared with standard care alone.
Source: The Independent, 24 December 2020
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