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Putting More Weight on Obesity Trials in Heart Failure

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Abstract

Purpose of Review

To review ongoing and planned clinical trials of weight loss among individuals with or at high risk of heart failure.

Recent Findings

Intentional weight loss via semaglutide among persons with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction and obesity significantly improves weight loss and health status as assessed by the KCCQ-CSS score and is associated with improvements in 6-min walk test.

Summary

Ongoing and planned trials will explore the role of intentional weight loss with treatments such as semaglutide or tirzepatide for individuals with heart failure across the entire ejection fraction spectrum.

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Acknowledgements

The editors would like to thank Dr. Joe Cuthbert for handling the review of this manuscript.

Funding

No funding was received for this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

JH and DM prepared the initial draft: all authors contributed extensively to revisions and to subsequent iterations of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Josephine Harrington.

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Conflict of Interest

JH has no disclosures. JLJ is a trustee of the American College of Cardiology; is a board member of Imbria Pharma; has received research support from Abbott, Applied Therapeutics, HeartFlow Inc, Innolife, and Roche Diagnostics; has consulting income from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Beckman, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Janssen, Jana Care, Novartis, Merck, and Roche Diagnostics; and participates in clinical endpoint committees/data safety monitoring boards for Abbott, AbbVie, Bayer, CVRx, Intercept, Pfizer, and Takeda. CSPL is supported by a Clinician Scientist Award from the National Medical Research Council of Singapore; has received research support from Novo Nordisk and Roche Diagnostics; has served as a consultant or on the advisory board/steering committee/executive committee for Alleviant Medical, Allysta Pharma, AnaCardio AB, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Biopeutics, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, CardioRenal, Cytokinetics, Darma Inc., EchoNous Inc, Eli Lilly, Impulse Dynamics, Intellia Therapeutics, Ionis Pharmaceutical, Janssen Research & Development LLC, Medscape/WebMD Global LLC, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, ProSciento Inc, Quidel Corporation, Radcliffe Group Ltd., Recardio Inc, ReCor Medical, Roche Diagnostics, Sanofi, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, and Us2.ai; and serves as co-founder and non-executive director of Us2.ai. HVS was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. GMF has received research grants from NHLBI, American Heart Association, Amgen, Bayer, BMS, Merck, Cytokinetics, and CSL-Behring; has acted as a consultant to Novartis, Amgen, BMS, Cytokinetics, Medtronic, Cardionomic, Boehringer-Ingelheim, American Regent, Abbott, Astra-Zeneca, Reprieve, Myovant, Sequana, Windtree Therapeutics, and Whiteswell; and has served on clinical endpoint committees/data safety monitoring boards for Amgen, Merck, Medtronic, EBR Systems, V-Wave, LivaNova, Siemens, and Rocket Pharma. NJP reports research support from Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eggland’s Best, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Verily Life Sciences; has served as a consultant or on an advisory panel for Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, CRISPR Therapeutics, Eli Lilly, Esperion, AstraZeneca, Merck, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk; is an executive committee member for trials sponsored by Novo Nordisk and Amgen on DSMBs for trials sponsored by Janssen and Novartis. NS has consulted for and/or received speaker honoraria from Abbott Laboratories, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Hanmi Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Roche Diagnostics, and Sanofi; and received grant support paid to his University from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, and Roche Diagnostics outside the submitted work. AP has received research support from the National Institute on Aging GEMSSTAR Grant (1R03AG067960-01), the National Institute on Minority Health and Disparities (R01MD017529), and the National Institute of Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R21HL169708). He has received grant funding (to the institution) from Applied Therapeutics, Gilead Sciences, Ultromics, Myovista, and Roche; has served as a consultant for and/or received honoraria outside of the present study as an advisor/consultant for Tricog Health Inc, Lilly USA, Rivus, Cytokinetics, Roche Diagnostics, Sarfez Therapeutics, Edwards Lifesciences, Merck, Bayer, Novo Nordisk, Alleviant, and Axon Therapies; and has received nonfinancial support from Pfizer and Merck. He is also a consultant for Palomarin Inc. with stocks compensation. DKM reports personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi US, Merck & Co., Merck Sharp and Dohme Corp., Eli Lilly USA, Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Eisai, Pfizer, Metavant, Applied Therapeutics, Afimmune, Bayer, CSL Behring and Esperion; research support for Clinical Trials Leadership from Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, Esperion, Lilly USA, CSL Behring, and honoraria for consultancy from Lilly USA, Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Lexicon, Novo Nordisk, Applied Therapeutics, Altimmune, CSL Behring, Bayer, Intercept, New Amsterdam.

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Harrington, J., Sattar, N., Felker, G.M. et al. Putting More Weight on Obesity Trials in Heart Failure. Curr Heart Fail Rep 21, 194–202 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11897-024-00655-z

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