Bayer's finerenone reduces risk of AFib, atrial flutter in all CKM syndrome patients
Treatment with finerenone can help patients with cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome reduce their risk of developing new-onset atrial fibrillation (AFib) or atrial flutter (AFL), according to a new pooled analysis published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.[1]
CKM syndrome includes patients with cardiovascular complications as well as those with kidney disease, diabetes or metabolic disease. Finerenone, meanwhile, is Bayer’s non-steroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) sold under the brand name Kerendia.
Previous studies have highlighted other benefits of finerenone, including its ability to limit new-onset AFib and AFL in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) and its positive impact on heart failure outcomes, but its potential to combat AFib for all patients across the CKM syndrome spectrum remained uncertain.
The study’s authors reviewed data from three different clinical trials. Two of the trials, FIDELIO-DKD and FIGARO-DKD, focused on patients with CKD and T2D. The third trial, FINEARTS-HF, included patients with heart failure with mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction. Patients in all three trials were randomized to either receive finerenone or a placebo.
The final patient population included more than 14,000 patients. Baseline patient characteristics for the finerenone and placebo groups were comparable.
Overall, during a median follow-up period of nearly three years, 4.3% of patients experienced new-onset AFib or AFL. This included 3.9% of patients treated with finerenone and 4.7% of patients treated with a placebo, a significant enough different to show that treatment with the MRA did make a difference. The risk reduction remained even when focusing on only patients with certain conditions such as CKD or T2D.
Researchers also emphasized that patients who develop AFib or AFL faced a higher risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, adverse kidney events or being hospitalized for heart failure symptoms.
“Importantly, participants who experience new-onset AFib/AFL were at a substantially higher subsequent risk of adverse cardiovascular and kidney outcomes than were those who remained free of AFib/AFL during follow-up,” wrote first author Maria A. Pabon, MD, a cardiologist with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and colleagues. “These findings highlight the role of finerenone in reducing the risk of new-onset AFib/AFL, mitigating downstream complications, and ultimately improving outcomes in patients across the CKM spectrum.”
Bayer did fund this research, the authors noted, but the company was not involved in interpreting the data or drafting the analysis.
Click here to read the full study. A closer look at CKM syndrome is available here.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.