The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7214 p313
7 September 2002

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European Society of Cardiology (www.escardio.org)

Antagonist shows little benefit in CHF

The selective endothelin antagonist darusentan, currently being co-developed by Aventis and Knoll, provides no substantial clinical benefit to patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), researchers conclude.

They tested the hypothesis that blockage of endothelin type A receptors with 10–300mg darusentan daily over six months would delay or prevent remodelling of large ventricles in patients who had CHF.

Data from the EARTH (endothelin A receptor antagonist trial) study, presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress in Berlin this week, showed there was only a weak positive dose-related trend with respect to changes in end-systolic volume.

The researchers say that the drug is a safe treatment for this group of patients. There was no excess mortality or increased hospital admissions in the treatment group compared with placebo. However, further research is needed to determine whether endothelin antagonists as an add-on to standard therapy could play a role in treating people with CHF.