Data from phase III RELAX-AHF-2 trial of Reasanz in heart failure published in NEJM

Results from the phase III RELAX-AHF-2 trial of Reasanz (serelaxin), from Novartis, for the treatment of patients with acute heart failure (AHF), have been published. First reported in 2017 at the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure (ESC-HF) meeting, the data have now been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. As reported previously, serelaxin failed to reduce either of the trial's two primary endpoints: death from cardiovascular causes at 180 days or worsening heart failure at 5 days.

At the 180-day mark, the cardiovascular death rates were 8.7% in the serelaxin arm compared with 8.9% for the placebo arm. At day 5, worsening heart failure, defined as a worsening of signs or symptoms of heart failure leading to an intensification of treatment, was seen in 6.9% and 7.7%, respectively. Though the results did not confirm the mortality benefit seen in RELAX-AHF-2, the researchers now hope to perform secondary analyses to understand the distinctions between serelaxin and other drugs that have failed in acute heart failure.

See: "Effects of Serelaxin in Patients with Acute Heart Failure" Marco Metra et al. N Engl J Med 2019; 381:716-726 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1801291