Does Liraglutide Benefit Heart Failure Outcomes?

Taking liraglutide, a glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonist, does not benefit posthospitalization clinical stability in patients with heart failure and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), according to a recent study.

GLP-1 agonists have been shown to have cardioprotective effects in patients with heart failure, irrespective of diabetes status. In order to examine the effects of these drugs on clinical stability following acute heart failure, researchers conducted a phase 2, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial of patients with heart failure and reduced LVEF who had been recently hospitalized.
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Participants were randomly assigned to receive either liraglutide (n=154) or placebo (n=146) via daily injection. Liraglutide was advanced to a dosage of 1.8 mg/d during the first 30 days of the study and continued for 180 days.

Overall, 271 of 300 participants completed the study. Compared with placebo, liraglutide did not significantly affect time to death, time to rehospitalization for heart failure, or time-averaged proportional change in N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels. Subgroup analysis of patients with diabetes also revealed no significant between-group differences.

“Among patients recently hospitalized with heart failure and reduced LVEF, the use of liraglutide did not lead to greater posthospitalization clinical stability,” the authors wrote. “These findings do not support the use of liraglutide in this clinical situation.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Margulies KB, Hernandez AF, Redfield MM, et al; NHLBI Heart Failure Clinical Research Network. Effects of liraglutide on clinical stability among patients with advanced heart failure and reduced ejection fraction: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2016;316(5):500-508.