SAN DIEGO – Preventive cardiovascular medicine will get “a big boost” from ongoing major randomized controlled trials due to report results during the next several years, Dr. Eric D. Peterson predicted at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology.
He presented an overview of eagerly anticipated clinical trials approaching completion in three of the hottest areas of research in general cardiology: new cardiovascular prevention agents and strategies; innovative health policy initiatives; and optimal antithrombotic regimens across the range of chronic coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, patients with atrial fibrillation who’ve undergone percutaneous coronary intervention, and cerebrovascular disease.
Dr. Eric Peterson
Dr. Peterson is executive director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), a major player in some of these studies. To gain additional perspective regarding what’s in store, he consulted a who’s who list of eminent American cardiology clinical trialists as to what’s going to be big in 2016-2017 and shortly beyond.
One thing’s clear looking out at the research horizon: Megatrials enrolling tens of thousands of patients to answer key clinical questions are not a thing of the past.
Far from it.
Cardiovascular prevention
Exciting pivotal phase III cardiovascular prevention trials are well underway in the areas of lipid modification, diabetes, and hypertension. In addition, the possible preventive effect of vitamin D and omega-3 free fatty acid supplementation seen in hypothesis-generating epidemiologic studies is finally being put to a definitive test in a 26,000-subject randomized trial known as VITAL (the Vitamin D and omega-3 trial).
Lipids: All eyes are on ongoing pivotal phase III randomized clinical outcome trials of three monoclonal antibodies that inhibit proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin type 9 (PCSK9): the 22,500-patient FOURIER trial of evolocumab, which includes 9,000 patients older than 65 years; the 18,000-patient ODYSSEY Outcomes trial of alirocumab; and the SPIRE-1 and SPIRE-2 trials of bococizumab totaling 18,300 patients.
In phase II studies, these agents have generated enormous excitement, because they safely achieve unprecedented LDL lowering, with early hints of improved clinical outcomes beyond what’s achievable with today’s drugs, noted Dr. Peterson, professor of medicine at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
CETP inhibitors: The cholesteryl ester transfer protein inhibitors torcetrapib and dalcetrapib flamed out in clinical trials because of safety concerns and lack of clinical benefit. But pivotal phase III trials of two other CETP inhibitors are well underway: anacetrapib, which is the focus of the 30,000-patient REVEAL trial; and evacetrapib, featured in the 11,000-patient ACCELERATE trial. The CETP inhibitors simultaneously boost HDL while reducing LDL.
Diabetes: The search continues for new drugs that not only enhance diabetes control but also improve cardiovascular outcomes, or at the very least are safe in diabetes patients with coronary disease.
Next up is the nearly 15,000-patient Trial Evaluating Cardiovascular Outcomes with Sitagliptin (TECOS), coordinated by the DCRI and University of Oxford. It’s due to be presented in June at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Boston. Trials of other dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors have shown evidence of an increased risk of heart failure, specifically with saxagliptin in the SAVOR-TIMI 53 trial and alogliptin in EXAMINE, so a lot is riding on TECOS.
The glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists are under study in cardiovascular event-driven randomized clinical trials collectively totaling more than 33,000 patients with type 2 diabetes. The Exenatide Study of Cardiovascular Event Lowering (EXSCEL), also coordinated by the DCRI and University of Oxford, includes 14,000 randomized patients. Other major trials of GLP-1 agonists are ELIXA (lixisenatide), LEADER (liraglutide), and REWIND (dulaglutide).
In addition, ongoing phase III trials of sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors with cardiovascular endpoints include the Canagliflozin Cardiovascular Assessment Study (CANVAS) and a 7,000-patient study of empagliflozin known as EMPA-REG OUTCOME.
Hypertension: The Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) is an NIH-funded, randomized trial designed to finally answer a question bothering physicians for years: What’s the right amount of blood pressure lowering?
Nearly 9,400 high-risk patients with clinical or subclinical cardiovascular disease have been randomized to a target systolic blood pressure of less than 120 mm Hg, compared with less than 140 mm Hg. The primary composite endpoint is cardiovascular death, nonfatal MI or stroke, or hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome. Secondary endpoints focus on cognitive impairment, dementia, and rates of progression of chronic kidney disease. Results are expected in 2018.
Vitamin D: The VITAL trial, also sponsored by the NIH, has randomized 25,875 initially healthy men and women to 2,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day or placebo, and further randomized them to 1 g/day of omega-3 fatty acids or placebo. Key endpoints are total cancers, MI, stroke, and cardiovascular death. Results are coming in 2017.