Author Rob Henderson commenting on the results of a recent JAMA study.

Knowing when to perform intervention is one of the most critical questions for the 24M people worldwide with valve disease. Learn more in this Cardiac Wire exclusive on how Philips’ Automated 3D Color Flow Quantification software removes the reliance on assumptions when quantifying mitral regurgitation and replaces it with an AI-driven method that delivers precise mitral valve measurements.

Cardiology Business

Lilly Buys Verve, Bringing Gene Editing Mainstream

Gene editing for heart disease just got a major boost as Eli Lilly acquired Verve Therapeutics and its one-dose cholesterol drugs for up to $1.3B, marking a new path for Verve’s therapies to go mainstream.

• Verve’s gene editing medicines permanently silence genes responsible for CVD risk factors like the PCSK9 gene.
• The move isn’t that surprising considering that Lilly paid $250M for the opt-in rights to three of Verve’s gene-editing programs and another $60M to help co-develop its Lp(a) program.
• The acquisition marks big pharma’s first major expansion into the realm of CV gene-editing, as it’s been mostly dominated by smaller experimental firms to date.

Part of the acquisition likely stems from Verve’s recent impressive trial results for its PCSK9-blocking treatment, VERVE-102, which lowered LDL-C by an average of 53% and a maximum of 69%.

• Importantly, VERVE-102 showed no safety concerns, which was a critical improvement over its earlier iteration, VERVE-101.
• VERVE-101 reduced LDL-C by up to 84% but led to a patient dying of cardiac arrest and other complications.

With the favorable trial data backing VERVE-102, Eli Lilly likely wanted greater control over later-stage clinical development and taking the therapy to market since it’s flush with cash following its success with tirzepatide in the GLP-1/GIP race.

The biggest hurdle down the road for Lilly is whether or not patients and doctors will embrace gene-editing medicines for CVD when more traditional treatment options are available even if it succeeds in the regulatory gauntlet.

• For example, Amgen’s Repatha and Regeneron’s Praluent PCSK9 inhibitors are already available and don’t permanently edit DNA.
• Adding to the potential competition, AstraZeneca and Merck are currently working on oral PCSK9 inhibitors.
• Verve believes its therapies will overcome this because they’re a one time infusion unlike the complicated administration process of Vertex’s Casgevy for sickle-cell anemia.

The Takeaway

It seems like Lilly firmly believes Verve’s therapies “could shift the treatment paradigm for cardiovascular disease from chronic care to one-and-done treatment” which would be both lucrative and complimentary for the pharma giant. The ultimate question for Lilly now comes down to if patients will trade a permanent change to their DNA for lower LDL-C.

Redefining Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Learn about the AGENT™ Drug-Coated Balloon from Boston Scientific and how this technology is expanding the treatment options for patients with in-stent restenosis in the U.S. Rx only. (Sponsored by Boston Scientific)

Identify and Treat Cardiovascular Disease

Complex care pathways make getting patients to the next step a challenge. See how Tempus Next, an AI enabled care pathway platform, helps providers identify and reduce under treatment in cardiovascular disease by adding an intelligent layer onto their routinely generated EHR data.

Explore the latest clinical evidence: SMART Trial 2-year results are in!

Evolut™ TAVR maintains superior valve performance through two years in small annulus patients. Dive
into the key findings from the latest SMART Trial results. View now!

The Wire

• Philips’ 3D Auto CFQ & MV Assessment: Over 24M people worldwide have valve disease, and knowing when to intervene makes all the difference. In this Cardiac Wire exclusive, Philips gives a deep dive into how its 3D Auto CFQ software can be just as good as cardiac MRI for measuring mitral valve regurgitant volume regardless of the patient valve’s shape and size. This way providers can remove the assumptions from treating MVR and can rely on data-driven certainty.

• CCTA Improves Adherence: People who were shown or described their CV health via CCTA scans led healthier lifestyles compared to those who got conventional cardiac risk scoring. A new JAMA Cardiology study examined 400 participants from SCOT-HEART 2 finding that more CCTA patients complied with NICE healthy lifestyle guidelines (17% vs. 6%) and were more likely to begin a therapeutic program (77% vs. 46%). Researchers noted that the study was only designed to measure compliance – it did not assess any change in coronary events over time.

• GLP-1s Improve PAD Burden: A retrospective review of over 100k patients uncovered that patients with PAD using GLP-1s were less likely to experience adverse events from the disease. Researchers compared PAD patients with or without GLP-1 treatment and determined that those on GLP-1s had a lower risk of adverse limb events (0.8% vs 1.5%), MACE (25.4% vs 29.3%), and hospitalization (17.9 vs 26.8%). 

• Florbetaben for ATTR-CA: Life Molecular Imaging received orphan drug designation from the European Commission for its florbetaben (18F) PET radiotracer for diagnosing ATTR amyloidosis. Florbetaben already received orphan drug designation for diagnosing amyloid light chain amyloidosis and works by binding to amyloid plaques, enabling PET scanners to detect the emitted radiation and show where the plaques are located. Florbetaben’s ongoing Phase 3 trial aims to further validate its efficacy for detecting cardiac amyloidosis.

• Ceryx’s Equity Funds: Ceryx Medical, a company working on pacemakers for long-term HF, completed a £5M ($6.8M) equity investment round (total raised to date of $12M) to help fund clinical trials. The investment will allow Ceryx to test its temporary pacing technology and develop a miniaturized version for applications in implantable pacemakers. Ceryx’s artificial neuron technology allows pacemakers to have more variable control of a heart’s rhythm, like responding to the patient’s breathing and exercise.

• Cold Drinks Trigger AFib? A recent study suggests avoiding cold drinks or foods could help reduce triggering AFib episodes in patients with the disease. Researchers surveyed 101 people with AFib and found that among those who claimed their AFib was triggered by cold ingestion, 51.5% reported that AFib episodes occurred only following cold drinks or food. When it came to physician attitudes, 52.4% of patients reported dismissive attitudes from providers, while some said they learned about the phenomenon from a physician.

• STEMI Outcomes Vary By Time: We already know that STEMI outcomes are directly tied to how quickly PCI is performed after an event, but new research shows that hospitals across the U.S. vary widely in response times. Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study of 74k patients and found that only 59.5% of patients achieved the recommended FMC-to-device time of 90 minutes or less. High-performing medical centers met target treatment times more frequently, while low-performing sites experienced prolonged ED stays, cath lab arrival-to-PCI times, and transfer delays.

• America’ CVD Risk: We’ve heard a lot about America’s CVD burden but a recent JACC study suggests it may be even more prevalent than before. Using the AHA PREVENT equations and data from NHANES, researchers determined that three in 10 U.S. adults aged 30-79 years have existing CVD or an elevated 10-year predicted risk of CVD. Meanwhile, two-thirds of adults don’t yet have CVD but have an elevated 30-year CVD risk.

• GLUCOSE for Managing Glucose: Researchers developed a new algorithm called GLUCOSE for optimizing insulin dosing after cardiac surgery. The algorithm was trained on 5.2k patients and achieved a significantly lower mean absolute error (MAE) during validation for insulin dosing, with 0.9 units MAE versus clinicians’ 1.97 units. These findings suggest GLUCOSE could be a robust tool for improving postoperative glucose management.

• BEV vs. SEV for TAVR: A recent AJC analysis suggests balloon-expandable and self-expanding TAVR valves have statistically similar patient outcomes after six years. The study included data from nearly 2,500 TAVR patients who received either the Edwards balloon-expanding Sapien 3 or Medtronic self-expanding Evolut R and found that both groups had similar all-cause mortality (33.2% for BEV vs. 40.4% for SEV). However, balloon-expandable valves came with higher rates of moderate (25% vs. 11.4%) or severe (9.1% vs. 3.1%) prosthesis-patient mismatch.

• Us2.ai’s CE Mark Approval: Us2.ai received CE Mark approval in the EU for the latest version of its fully automated echocardiography software (also approved in the US, parts of Asia/Oceania, and other EU countries). The software offers comprehensive, guideline-directed echo analysis that is entirely automated and instantly reportable, enabling expert-level insights in every echo exam, regardless of operator experience or location. Us2.ai’s updated platform now includes 67 CE-marked echo parameters, encompassing cardiac chamber quantification, systolic/diastolic function, valvular assessment, and myocardial strain.

Merge Hemo Expands to Puerto Rico

Merge partnered with Alpha Biomedical to bring Merge Hemo to Puerto Rico, marking the software’s first expansion outside the 50 U.S. states. Read more about the work Merge is doing to expand access to its award winning solutions beyond the United States.

Explore Vitrea Advanced Visualization

Discover Canon Medical Healthcare IT’s suite of advanced imaging workflows designed to increase efficiency in cardiovascular imaging, and facilitate the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. These cutting-edge tools support the delivery of faster, more accurate care while integrating seamlessly into clinical workflow

Us2.ai’s Echo Automation Impact

Improving clinician efficiency and quality is the goal for most AI solutions, but we rarely see AI achieve both. See how the AI-ECHO RCT used Us2.ai to achieve both of those goals, while reducing sonographer fatigue in the process.

The Resource Wire

• Heartbeats and EP Insights – How GE HealthCare Streamlines Cardiac Care: Are you stuck behind EP reporting backlogs? Take a break and join GE HealthCare for a 15-minute conversation with Dr. Nicholas Skipitaris of Northwell Health on how to simplify reporting, reduce delays and standardize workflows to scale best practices.

• Heartflow Roadmap Analysis For Efficient Care: As Coronary CT scan volumes increase, your entire reading team needs to deliver efficient and consistent reads. Good thing Heartflow’s Roadmap Analysis can help you maintain accuracy and increase CCTA read speeds by up to 25%, with even level 3 readers seeing real efficiency benefits.

• Revolutionize Your Cardiac CT Workflow — See It LIVE at SCCT 2025! Be among the first to experience next-gen CV imaging at Booth #315 during SCCT 2025. Sign up now to find out how Circle CVI’s software enables lightning-fast LAAC, TAVR, and TMVR workflows while providing more accurate heart function insights, and clinician-controlled plaque quantification.

• Accurate and Efficient Remote Cardiac Patient Monitoring: The expansion of remote cardiac patient monitoring is creating more care opportunities, but also new operational challenges for cardiology teams. Check out this Cardiac Wire Show, where ARTELLA Solutions’ Jacinta Fitzsimons shares how the right combination of technology and service can help physicians get the most out of their cardiac RPM programs – today and into the future.

• Left Ventricular Devices Have Received Level 1A Recommendation: Patients on long-term inotrope support have a median survival of under a year.

• A Better Way to Coordinate Post-Stroke Care: Think your EHR messaging system might be holding back your post-stroke care? See how UC San Diego Medical Center streamlined its neuro and EP teams’ post-stroke workflow with Viz Connect, and the impact it had on cardiac monitor placements in inpatient and outpatient settings.

• PIA Medical Processes It All: Need an analysis like calcium scoring, strain or even FFR? PIA Medical began as a Core Lab and can handle creative cardiac research and clinical trials along with the full breadth of clinical analyses available today.

• The Hidden Costs of Delaying Cardiac MRI Adoption: Despite being the gold standard for functional cardiac imaging, many hospitals remain slow to adopt it. From missed revenue to lost patients, the impact goes far beyond the scan. Read about the real clinical and financial risks of falling behind.

• Making Cardiovascular Data Work for You: Today, cloud-native analytics can automate data acquisition and synthesize complex data. Discover what Optum’s technology can do to facilitate future advancements in cardiovascular data and analytics.

The Industry Wire

1. FDA offers faster review for drugs with “national priorities.”
2. U.S. pharma turns to China for drug candidates.
3. Vinay Prasad to hold trio of FDA jobs.
4. CBO says tax cut bill slashes healthcare by $1T.
5. Amazon restructures health biz into six units.
6. Amazon sees four healthcare leaders leave in 2025.
7. Podcast spurs interest in ivermectin as cancer cure.
8. TriHealth to acquire sixth hospital. 
9. Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs partners on obesity meds.
10. “Addictive” screen time linked to youth suicide risk.