Heart failure (HF)
Heart failure is a progressive disease that is caused by the heart being too stiff or weak to pump blood throughout the body. A dysfunction of the sarcomere, the basic contractile unit of the heart, impacts the heart’s ability to properly fill with blood.
Ejection fraction, a measure for the ability of the heart to pump blood with each beat, is used to classify heart failure and guide treatment.
Symptoms of heart failure include shortness of breath, fatigue, coughing and a high impact on quality of life to perform daily or physical activities. It is estimated that over 10 million individuals are currently affected by heart failure in China and that the prevalence among Chinese adults aged ≥35 years continues to grow.
There is no cure for heart failure but there are various options to actively manage the disease and slow down progression. Unfortunately, current therapies all have limitations so that heart failure remains a leading cause of hospitalization and readmission in elderly people.
Omecamtiv Mecarbil is a novel, selective cardiac myosin activator for the potential treatment for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) by increasing cardiac contractility. JIXING acquired the Greater China rights for Omecamtiv Mecarbil from Cytokinetics in December 2021 and will file for New Drug Approval (NDA) with the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in 2022.
Aficamten can potentially serve as a drug candidate for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). As a myosin inhibitor, aficamten modulates sarcomere dysfunction by improving cardiac muscle contractility and has the potential to increase lifespan of patients with heart failure.
For further information about our partner, Cytokinetics, please visit cytokinetics.com
1 Heart Failure | National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Nhlbi.nih.gov. (2019). Available at: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/heart-failure
2 Guang Hao, Xin Wang, et al. Prevalence of heart failure and left ventricular dysfunction in China: The China Hypertension Survey, 2012–2015. European Journal of Heart Failure (2019); 21:1329–1337.
3 Annual report on cardiovascular health and diseases in China2019. Journal of Cardiovascular and Vascular Diseases(2020); 39(10):1157-1162.（中国心血管健康与疾病报告2019）
4 Gu DF, Huang GY, He J, et al. Epidemiological investigation of heart failure in China and its prevalence. Chinese Journal of Cardiovascular Diseases (2003); 31(1):3-6.
