(Alliance News) - AstraZeneca PLC on Monday noted that its sodium-glucose co-transporter two inhibitor Forxiga has been approved by the Japanese Ministry of Health for treating patients with chronic heart failure.
Heart failure is a chronic disease that prevents the heart from pumping sufficient levels of blood around the body, which affects 64 million people worldwide.
At least half of those who suffer from heart failure have a reduced ejection fraction, which occurs when the left ventricle muscle is unable to contract adequately, thus expels less oxygen-rich blood into the body.
The approval was based positive results from the DAPA-HF phase III trial, a parallel-group, randomised, double-blinded trial in 4,744 patients. Forxiga, whose generic name is dapagliflozin, is already approved in the US, Europe and several other countries.
"Forxiga's efficacy in reducing the risk of cardiovascular death or worsening of heart failure events could result in life-saving benefits for many heart failure patients in Japan. Today's approval will shift the way we manage the disease by providing a treatment option that is urgently needed to improve outcomes and symptoms for these patients," said Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of BioPharmacceuticals.
Shares in AstraZeneca were up 1.7% at 7,902.00 pence on Monday in London.
By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com
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