New Compound Increases Cardiac Efficiency

A new compound has shown in preclinical animal studies the ability to increase the heart's pumping function via an increase in cardiac efficiency and may be a potential therapy for patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) or angina.

The compound, called ranolazine, is the first in a new class of compounds known as partial fatty acid oxidation (pFOX) inhibitors. In the study, both ranolazine and dobutamine increased cardiac pumping, but dobutamine's increase was associated with an increase in the heart's need for oxygen, while ranolazine's was not. Relative to baseline measurements and dobutamine, ranolazine increased cardiac efficiency by 37%.

The animal model used in the study has been developed over the past 12 years to provide a test subject that mimics the pathophysiology of CHF in humans. Other medications tested in this model have yielded results subsequently confirmed in human trials. Ranolazine is currently being investigated in Phase III clinical trials. The compound was developed by CV Therapeutics, Inc. (Palo Alto, CA, USA) The company notes that another trial has shown that patients with chronic angina and diabetes given ranolazine exhibited clinical efficacy similar to that of patients without diabetes.

"By shifting the way in which the heart uses oxygen, this study demonstrated that ranolazine may generate more work from the heart with the same amount of fuel. Furthermore, since approximately 25% of chronic angina patients have concomitant CHF, ranolazine may be suited for these patients,” said Hani N. Sabbah, Ph.D., professor of medicine, Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH, USA).




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