Heart failure (HF) is a condition in which the heart does not contract (“pump”) or relax well, leading to insufficient perfusion of vital organs. Ankle swelling, fatigue, and breathlessness are some of the features of this syndrome. There are different causes for HF (e.g., infarct and hypertension) and two distinct types: HFpEF – HF with preserved ejection fraction – the heart “pumps” but does not relax well and HFrEF/HFmrEF – HF with reduced or mildly reduced ejection fraction – where the heart does not “pump” properly, here referred to as having HFrEF..

Patients with HFrEF experience substantially shorter life expectancies compared with people in the general population of similar age. Compared to the different available therapeutics for HFrEF patients, angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor (ARNi), sacubitril/valsartan, has shown superiority for improving clinical outcomes. Furthermore, the new recently drug sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) was proven to reduce mortality and morbidity on top of well-adapted background therapy.

This work aims to test the safety of ARNi and SGLT2i initiation by comparing a strategy of simultaneous initiation of ARNi and SGLT2i versus sequential initiation of a SGLT2i first followed by an ARNi.

Study Coordinator: João P. Ferreira, MD, PhD
PI: Franscisco Nóvoa, MD, PhD
PI: Cristina Gavina, MD, PhD
PI: Joana Pimenta, MD, PhD
PI: Mário Santos, MD, PhD