Heart Failure February 20, 2025
ALT-FLOW and the HF Shunt Alternative February 20, 2025
Although heart failure prognosis is grim, the ALT-FLOW trial’s two year results suggest that diverting blood from the left atrium to the coronary sinus using a shunt could have lasting benefits for patients with HFmrEF/HFpEF. Taking a different approach to HF therapy, researchers gave 95 patients the Edwards APTURE Transcatheter Shunt System and found that […]
Cardiology Business February 18, 2025
Atria’s Independent Cardiology Play February 18, 2025
With 85% of cardiologists now employed by health systems, it may seem like the days of independent cardiology practice are long gone, but Atria Health is looking to reverse this trend with the help of a unique private equity model. This is the niche Atria aims to fill, with their new business model seeking out […]
Cardiology Business February 13, 2025
Novartis Reclaims Anthos, Reenters Factor XI Race February 13, 2025
Just a couple weeks after the full trial results of AZALEA TIMI 71 were released, Novartis agreed to acquire Anthos Therapeutics for $925M upfront and another $2.15B in milestone payments, signaling that the pharma titan may have renewed confidence in abelacimab and the Factor XI inhibition segment. Abelacimab already demonstrated an edge over the incumbents, […]
Surgeries & Interventions February 10, 2025
The Weekend Effect Touches TAVR Too February 10, 2025
It seems even interventional cardiologists aren’t immune to the “Weekend Effect” as a recent study suggests patients admitted on weekends for TAVR procedures face significantly higher risks. To uncover the weekend effect’s impact on TAVR, researchers analyzed over 82k TAVR hospitalizations between 2013 and 2021 and revealed that weekend patients faced a 45% higher risk […]
Imaging February 7, 2025
Cardiology in the Spotlight: Enterprise Imaging That Goes Beyond Radiology February 7, 2025
The future of medical imaging is about connection. Today’s healthcare challenges demand platforms that unify radiology, cardiology, digital pathology, genomics, and beyond into a seamless enterprise ecosystem—moving past the era of standalone systems and isolated workflows. A complete enterprise imaging solution allows us to move closer to an improved multidisciplinary collaboration, and a more comprehensive […]
Cardiology Pharmaceuticals February 6, 2025
PCSK9 Inhibitors: Sooner or Later? February 6, 2025
Sooner certainly seems to be better than later when it comes to treating LDL-C levels with the PCSK9 inhibitor evolocumab, and according to a recent JACC study, that’s especially true for older patients. Putting age before beauty, researchers conducted a prespecified analysis of the FOURIER-OLE study and found that among roughly 6.6k patients, evolocumab reduced […]
Cardiovascular Disease February 3, 2025
Cardiovascular Disease and Deaths On the Rise February 3, 2025
Another year, another AHA report reasserting heart disease’s dominance as the number one killer in the United States, and the latest data shows that this trend is still gaining momentum. Four years after that goal’s due date, the burden of CVD in the U.S. is at an all time high, with 942k cardiovascular disease-related deaths […]
Structural Heart January 30, 2025
Why Mechanical AVR Valves Still Matter January 30, 2025
A presentation at this year’s Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) conference suggests mechanical valves might lead to better survival compared to bioprosthetic valves in patients aged 60 or younger undergoing SAVR even though it seems like they’re going out of style. Researchers examined STS registry data on ~109k patients ages 40 to 75 years who […]
Pharmaceuticals January 27, 2025
Abelacimab Stops Bleeding, But Stroke Impact Uncertain January 27, 2025
Anthos Therapeutics published the full results of its Phase 2 AZALEA-TIMI 71 trial for its novel Factor XI inhibitor, abelacimab, confirming the drug’s lower bleeding risks, but leaving researchers uncertain about its ability to prevent stroke in AFib patients. To see if abelacimab was a safer alternative, researchers randomized 1,287 AFib patients at risk of […]
Obesity Care January 23, 2025
The Potential Risks of GLP-1s January 23, 2025
Although GLP-1s have proven to significantly help with weight loss and cardiometabolic disorders, a new Nature Medicine study shed light on the drugs’ potential side-effects. To tackle this problem, researchers compared Veteran’s Affairs data on 2 million T2D patients (2017-2023) taking either GLP-1s, DPP4is, SGLT2is, or usual care antihyperglycemics over a 3.68 year follow-up. Starting […]
Heart Failure January 16, 2025
The Finer Points of FINEARTS-HF January 16, 2025
Bayer’s FINEARTS-HF study revealed that finerenone could be poised to become the next big heart failure treatment at ESC 2024, and a new series of JACC sub-studies just further strengthened its case. The first of the featured studies revealed that patients treated soon after experiencing a worsening heart failure (WHF) event saw greater benefits. The […]
Cardiac Imaging January 13, 2025
AI-CCTA Beats SPECT, Again January 13, 2025
A recent study out of UCLA seemed to add to the body of evidence supporting AI-assisted CCTA as an alternative to SPECT for diagnosing obstructive coronary artery disease, although holes in the study suggest that CCTA AI has more to prove To determine if AI-CCTA could hold its own, researchers analyzed CCTA images from 175 […]
Artificial Intelligence January 9, 2025
AI-ECG’s 2025 Kickoff January 9, 2025
The buzz around artificial intelligence’s impact on cardiology keeps growing louder, and that’s proving to be particularly true in the AI-ECG segment, with 2025 already off to a strong start from ECG startups and researchers alike. One pertinent example is AccurKardia’s recent FDA breakthrough designation for its ECG-based, AI-powered AK+ Guard hyperkalemia detection software. Tackling […]
Controversies January 6, 2025
Cardiologists Busted for Overbilling Nationwide January 6, 2025
Adding to a relentless trend of Medicare schemes, 16 cardiology practices agreed to pay more than $17.7M to resolve allegations that they overbilled for diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals and violated the False Claims Act. The DOJ accused these practices of reporting “inflated acquisition costs” to Medicare for materials needed to perform cardiovascular imaging. The three largest settlements […]
Controversies December 19, 2024
Challenging the CHAGASICS Trial December 19, 2024
Exposing the failures of peer review, Dr. Anis Rassi Jr. MD, PhD, recently published his letter to JAMA Cardiology in Sensible Medicine about glaring issues with the CHAGASICS trial. The story began with Dr. Rassi expressing his concerns to the study’s editor at JAMA who advised him to submit a formal letter to JAMA’s Editor-in-Chief […]
Structural Heart December 16, 2024
Capstan’s Robotic MR/TR Frontier Funding December 16, 2024
Capstan Medical took a key step towards its vision of launching the first robotic cardiac valve surgery system, landing $110M in Series C funding. Focusing on mitral and tricuspid valve diseases, Capstan’s treatment combines transcatheter implantation of a folded valve replacement with its X-ray and ultrasound-guided robot to align the low-profile implant with the beating […]
Cholesterol Reduction December 12, 2024
NewAmsterdam’s BROADWAY Show December 12, 2024
Topline results from NewAmsterdam’s Phase 3 BROADWAY trial provided the strongest evidence yet of obicetrapib’s potential for patients with ASCVD and heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH) who can’t lower their LDL-C with statins. The BROADWAY trial randomized ~2.5k patients to take obicetrapib or placebo (2:1 ratio) and monitored them over a 52-week follow up period. BROADWAY […]
Pharmaceuticals December 9, 2024
Tirzepatide Triumphant Over Semaglutide December 9, 2024
Topline results from the SURMOUNT-5 trial found Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide led to far greater weight loss than Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide, giving Lilly a boost in the race to become America’s go-to GLP-1. Over SURMOUNT-5’s 72 week duration, 751 participants across the U.S. and Puerto Rico were randomized to receive the maximum tolerated dose of tirzepatide […]
Pharmaceuticals December 5, 2024
MariTide’s Weight Loss Milestone December 5, 2024
The red hot weight loss segment just got even hotter, as the Phase 2 trial of Amgen’s maridebart cafraglutide (MariTide) yielded exceptional body mass reductions among people with obesity and T2D, propelling the pharma giant closer to FDA approval. Building on this earlier success, Amgen’s new Phase 2 trial lasted 52 weeks and enrolled patients […]
