–Novartis sees open road to blockbuster status for heart failure drug After a slow start, the novel heart failure drug Entresto (valsartan/sacubitril) is now poised to become a blockbuster, if drugmaker Novartis’s projections are on target. The combination pill will record sales of about $500 million in 2017 and may eventually achieve $5 billion in…
Novartis Withdraws Support For Controversial Entresto Contest
December 19, 2016 by 3 Comments
(Updated) Novartis will no longer sponsor a contest designed to support the publication of peer review articles about Entresto, the company’s important new heart failure drug. The contest is taking place on Cureus, an open access journal, publishing platform, and vehicle for industry-sponsored content. The contest offered $10,000 in rewards for articles supporting a recent…
Novartis Contest Rewards Positive Peer Review Articles About Entresto
December 15, 2016 by 3 Comments
(See the bottom of the story for updates. Since the original publication of the story the cardiologists on the “peer review panel” have resigned and Novartis has withdrawn its support for the contest.) Despite the fact that it had one of the biggest clinical trial successes in recent years, the Novartis heart failure drug Entresto has…
Debate: Switching From Standard HF Therapy To Entresto
September 21, 2016 by 5 Comments
–A debate at the HFSA in Orlando over whether all patients tolerating standard therapy should be switched to Entresto. Editor’s Note: Heart failure specialist Eiran Z. Gorodeski (Cleveland Clinic) wrote this account of an important debate on Monday at the Heart Failure Society of America meeting in Orlando. (This account has been updated by Gorodeski with…
Entresto Gets Boost in Updated HF Guidelines
May 20, 2016 by 1 Comment
–Valsartan/sacubitril earns Class I recommendation Cardiology groups in the U.S. and Europe have updated their heart failure guidelines to include much-awaited recommendations for Entresto (the combination of valsartan and sacubitril manufactured by Novartis). The new guidelines offer broad support for the new drug. Since its approval last summer Entresto has struggled to gain a foothold…
Novartis Announces Enormous Clinical Trial Program For Heart Failure Drug
May 19, 2016 by Leave a Comment
–The company plans to perform 40 clinical trials in 5 years with Entresto. Novartis announced today an enormous clinical trial program with its promising but slow starting heart failure drug Entresto (valsartan/sacubitril). The company said it would perform 40 clinical trials with the drug in the next five years. The Fortifying Heart Failure clinical evidence and…
More Concerns Raised About Possible Risks Of New Heart Failure Drug
December 8, 2015 by 4 Comments
(Updated with an additional comment from Milton Packer) More safety concerns are being voiced about Entresto, the new, ballyhooed heart failure drug from Novartis. Fueling these concerns is a mix of speculation, worry about the FDA’s rapid approval of the drug, and a long-running feud between two leading heart failure researchers. The concerns, raised in a JAMA Viewpoint by heart failure…
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