The Journal of Practical Medicine ›› 2025, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (9): 1379-1386.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1006-5725.2025.09.016

• Drugs and Clinic Practice • Previous Articles    

Clinical efficacy of vericiguat in combination with "Quadruple Therapy" for patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction in real⁃world settings

Lin CHEN1,Baochuan WU1,Shaojun WU2,Yi WANG1,Yibei FU3,Xiaoli LIU2,Rong GU1,2()   

  1. Department of Cardiology,Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Clinical College,Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine,Nanjing 210008,Jiangsu,China
  • Received:2025-01-23 Online:2025-05-10 Published:2025-05-20
  • Contact: Rong GU E-mail:gurong.nju@163.com

Abstract:

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of vericiguat combined with the new “Quadruple Therapy” for treating heart failure with reduced ejection fraction(HFrEF) and to explore its impact on left ventricular reverse remodeling(LVRR) in patients with different baseline characteristics. Methods A total of 87 patients with chronic heart failure treated with vericiguat at the Department of Cardiology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital from June 2022 to March 2024, were consecutively enrolled as the observation group. These patients were matched at 1∶1 by age, sex, and left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF) with 87 patients who received the standard quadruple therapy without vericiguat as the control group. Propensity score matching was used to further balance confounding factors, resulting in 64 patients in each group for final analysis. Changes in echocardiographic parameters, liver and kidney function, electrolyte levels, and blood pressure were analyzed at baseline and during the 6-month follow-up to assess the efficacy and safety of vericiguat. The primary efficacy endpoint was the occurrence of LVRR. Subgroup analyses were conducted based on baseline characteristics such as age and sex. Interaction analysis was utilized to evaluate the heterogeneity of vericiguat's efficacy. Results After 6 months of treatment, the vericiguat group showed significant improvements in cardiac structure and function compared to the control group. The left ventricular end-diastolic diameter was significantly reduced [-0.43(-1.00,-0.10) mm vs.-0.22(-0.53,0.02) mm, P = 0.002], and the LVEF was significantly increased [8.45%(1.40%,16.50%) vs. 2.75%(0,11.00%), P = 0.002]. The percentage of patients in the vericiguat group who achieved LVRR was significantly larger than in the control group(46.4% vs. 27.4%, P = 0.011). Multivariate logistic regression revealed that the combination of vericiguat was an independent predictor of LVRR(Model 2: OR = 2.54, 95% CI: 1.29 ~ 5.01, P = 0.007). The reverse remodeling effect remained consistent across different subgroups and was not significantly influenced by specific baseline characteristics(Pinteraction > 0.05). Vericiguat did not affect blood pressure, liver and kidney function, or electrolyte levels, achieving satisfactory safety, despite its significantly higher incidence of gastrointestinal reactions(16.1% vs. 5.7%, P < 0.001). Conclusion The addition of vericiguat to the quadruple therapy significantly improves cardiac function and promotes left ventricular reverse remodeling in HFrEF patients while maintaining a favorable safety profile.

Key words: vericiguat, heart failure, quadruple therapy, left ventricle reverse remodeling, cohort study

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