A new study suggests that a drug typically used to treat lung fibrosis patients and “a possible cure for COVID-19 patients” could offer new hope for those suffering from heart failure.
Heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to adequately pump blood throughout the body. However, around half of people with the disease have a normal ejection fraction, or forward pumping function of the heart. A recent experiment funded by the National Institute for Health Research discovered that Pirfenidone – a medicine generally used to treat pulmonary fibrosis – may benefit people suffering from a common form of heart failure.
Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), alternatively called diastolic heart failure, is a clinical illness that arises when the lower left chamber (left ventricle) cannot adequately fill with blood during the diastolic (filling) phase.
The ejection fractions indicate how much blood is pushed out of the ventricle with each contraction.
Nick Hartshorne-Evans, founder of the campaign group Pumping Marvellous, stated:
“On this group of patients, even a slight improvement in quality of life is important.
“There are so few treatment options for HFpEF that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence doesn’t even have specific prescribing guidelines for it.”
For one year, 47 individuals with HFpEF were given daily tablets of pirfenidone in a recent experiment.
Patients who met the inclusion criteria and had a cardiac MRI scan with signs of heart scarring were randomly assigned to either pirfenidone or a placebo daily.
After one year, patients underwent scans, which demonstrated an average decrease of 1.21 percent in scarring of the heart tissue.
Chris Miller, a consultant cardiologist at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and a professor at the University of Manchester, stated:
“Heart failure is as devastating an illness as some of the most common cancers, however, its profile is much lower and treatment options for HFpEF are very limited.
“These reductions in heart scarring could translate into substantial reduction in rates of death and admission to hospital for heart failure.
“The associated improvement in fluid retentions provides support for heart scarring have a causal role in heart failure and being an effective treatment target.”
Although the exact mechanism of action of pirfenidone is unknown, experts believe it has antifibrotic and anti-inflammatory characteristics.
Hartshorne-Evans further added:
“It’s important that we’ve seen a positive result, and what we need now is a big trial with thousands of patients.”
The World Health Organization published an article in 2020 outlining a clinical trial examining the drug’s efficacy in the treatment of COVID-19.
The authors stated that “pirfenidone can be a possible cure for COVID-19 patients,” but that additional trials were necessary to establish its efficacy.
There is evidence that COVID-19 increases risk and susceptibility to pulmonary fibrosis, and vice versa.
According to the researchers, these findings are not so surprising, considering that both diseases share a number of risk factors, including growing age.
While heart failure can be caused by a variety of reasons, scarring of the heart muscle is believed to have a significant role in up to two-thirds of individuals with HFpEF.
According to the experts, the three main symptoms of heart failure are:
- Shortness of breath when you’re active or resting
- Swollen feet, ankles, stomach and around the lower back area, caused by fluid build up.
- Feeling unusually tired or weak, because there’s not enough blood and oxygen getting to your muscles
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