Novartis
intensifies Entresto push with new analysis
Send a link to a friend
[September 19, 2016]
ZURICH (Reuters) - Novartis on
Monday intensified its bid to convince doctors to prescribe its heart
failure drug Entresto, releasing an analysis that concluded the medicine
contributed to higher quality of life scores compared with an older
drug.
|
The decline in health-related quality of life scores among patients
hospitalized with reduced ejection fraction heart failure was less
steep among Entresto patients compared to those taking the drug
enalapril, Switzerland's Novartis said in a statement.
Launched to much fanfare last year, Entresto sales have so far
disappointed investors and the company, forcing Novartis to spend
hundreds of millions more on marketing as it seeks to hit a modest
target of $200 million in revenue from the drug this year.
The company is still convinced sales of Entresto will peak at around
$5 billion annually.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Sep/19/images/ads/current/culligan_sda_daily_FESTIVALS_2016.png)
"This new analysis of the data demonstrates that Entresto can also
help reduce the serious impact on quality of life associated with
heart failure, and further reinforces the potential of this medicine
to improve the outlook for patients living with this debilitating
condition," said Vasant Narasimhan, Novartis's chief medical
officer.
Reduced ejection fraction heart failure is a debilitating condition
in which the heart is unable to pump enough blood around the body.
The decline in quality of life scores was about 50 percent less
among those taking Entresto compared to patients who took enalapril.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/ads/current/Symphony_122313.png)
Measures of quality of life in the Novartis study included questions
about patients' ability to perform daily activities.
Novartis is presenting its analysis at the Heart Failure Society of
America's meeting in Orlando, Florida, on Monday.
(Reporting by Joshua Franklin and John Miller, editing by Louise
Heavens)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Sep/19/images/ads/current/Alexander_lda_060716.png) |