Important new findings from the BEAUTIFUL study in angina patients

A new analysis from the BEAUTIFUL study shows that ivabradine reduces the risk of cardiovascular death, hospitalization for myocardial infarction, and heart failure by 24% (P=0.048) (Figure 1) in patients with limiting angina, and has a maximum effect on myocardial infarction with a 42% risk reduction (P=0.022) (Figure 2). These results have just been presented at the ESC Congress in Barcelona and published in the European Heart Journal.



A total of 1507 patients with angina were included in this BEAUTIFUL subgroup analysis. Of these, 734 patients were treated with Procoralan, while 773 received placebo. Nearly all patients were additionally receiving conventional treatment aimed at protecting against cardiovascular events, with approximately nine out of every 10 patients on β-blockers.


The benefit of ivabradine was even more striking in angina patients with high resting heart rate (≥70 beats per minute), where ivabradine significantly reduces:

• The primary end point of cardiovascular death, hospitalization for myocardial infarction, and heart failure by 31%
• The risk of hospitalization for myocardial infarction by 73% (Figure 3)
• The need for coronary revascularization by 59%.

These findings set ivabradine apart as an antianginal agent that has been documented to be able to increase cardiovascular benefits in patients with angina.


Reference:
Fox K, Ford I, et al; BEAUTIFUL Investigators. Effect of ivabradine on cardiovascular outcomes in patients with stable coronary artery diseaseand left-ventricular systolic dysfunction with limiting angina: a subgroup analysis of the randomized, controlled BEAUTIFUL trial. In press.