BG Medicine announced that the results of a sub-study of the Controlled Rosuvastatin Multinational Trial in Heart Failure (CORONA) trial have been published online in the current issue of the European Heart Journal. The results of the study showed that patients with blood levels of galectin-3 below 19.0 ng/mL at the beginning of the trial received significant clinical benefit from rosuvastatin (statin) treatment. In contrast, patients with higher levels of galectin-3 were not observed to have derived any clinical benefit from rosuvastatin treatment.
The aim of the galectin-3 CORONA study was to determine whether baseline galactin-3 levels could distinguish a group of patients with heart failure who would receive a clinical benefit from rosuvastatin treatment. Known under the brand name CRESTOR, rosuvastatin is a statin medication indicated to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke by treating high cholesterol and related lipid disorders. Representing about one-third of all the CORONA trial subjects, 1,462 trial participants were involved in the sub-study. The results demonstrated that patients with plasma levels of galectin-3 less than 19.0 ng/mL experienced a 35% reduction in primary adverse cardiovascular events while on rosuvastatin treatment, as compared with placebo; no comparable benefit was noted in subjects with plasma levels of galectin-3 above 19.0 ng/mL. A composite of cardiovascular mortality, non-fatal myocardial infarction and non-fatal stroke, which were analyzed as time to first event, was the primary endpoint.
This study reaffirms a key component of the company’s galectin-3 research, which is that galectin-3 identifies heart failure patients who have a distinct form of the disease. It was anticipated that the benefit of certain drugs might be limited to patient groups defined by their galectin-3 level, and the results were an example of such differential benefit.
Results from the original CORONA study, which was designed to evaluate the utility of rosuvastatin treatment for patients with advanced heart failure, was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2007. That study demonstrated no rosuvastatin benefit on the primary coronary endpoint or on cardiovascular death.
BG Medicine, a life sciences company, is focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel cardiovascular diagnostics that address significant unmet medical needs, improve patient outcomes, and mitigate healthcare costs. The BGM Galectin-3 test for use in patients with heart failure, the company’s first commercialized product, is available in the U.S. and Europe. The company has also developed CardioSCORE, which is a blood test designed to identify individuals who are at high risk for near-term major cardiovascular events like heart attack and stroke.
For more information, visit the company’s Web site at www.bg-medicine.com
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