RIYADH — Despite significant advances, heart failure remains a major cause of death and disability worldwide. Unfortunately, the problem is growing and accordingly the cost of chronic care and hospitalization are escalating.

Novel approaches are needed to reduce the burden of heart failure as well as to improve the quality of life of these patients.

Today more than ever, heart failure has to become a political and health care system priority to improve Heart Failure management outcomes.

In this context AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical Company in Saudi Arabia had conducted a mega scientific event in Riyadh and Jeddah led by Prof. Subodh Verma — cardiac surgeon-scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, Professor at the University of Toronto, and Prof. Waleed AlHabeeb — consultant heart failure cardiologist, president of the Saudi Heart Failure Group, to discuss the global and local burden of heart failure and how to improve disease management outcomes.

Prof. Subodh said, “SGLT2 inhibitors represent a transformative class of therapies. Recent data suggest strongly that they should be used in people with Type 2 Diabetes to prevent heart and renal complications. Landmark clinical trials have now also extended the benefit of these therapies to people with heart failure with Type 2 Diabetes. We need to overcome clinical inertia and use these therapies in our patients to prevent devastating complications, morbidity and mortality.”

Prof. Waleed said, “Heart failure is becoming a major health concern with an estimated prevalence in KSA of 455,000 cases and an estimated incidence of 32,000 cases annually there is a compelling need to have different health care providers and stakeholders collaborating together to face this disease, improving patients’ quality of life.”

Ismail Shehada, country president – GCC, said, “Our ambition at AstraZeneca is to modify the natural course of Cardio-Renal diseases by continuing to deliver transformative science that improves treatment practice and cardiovascular health for millions of patients worldwide. We recognize the early warning signs and are evolving the treatment continuum to include earlier intervention across interconnected conditions like T2DM.”

Fahad Al Otaibi, country director Saudi Arabia, said, “We aim to partner with local societies and healthcare providers to change the current trajectory of heart failure. With ground-breaking research, the promise of more treatment options and improved educational initiatives for patients is growing. Together we can create a seamless pathway for patients with HF potentially enabling providers to diagnose and treat earlier.”

Suzan Shuman, marketing director – GCC, said, “Today, the voice of the patient suffering from heart failure will be heard. Those patients deserve a better life with less hospitalization, less restrictions to enjoy daily activities & more time to spend with their families, enjoying their hobbies. We look forward to building a more integrated care network with healthcare providers to empower them to intervene early and prevent heart failure.”

Ahmed Soliman, medical director – GCC, said, “Millions of people around the world are currently living restricted lives due to heart failure, which has a prognosis worse than some forms of cancer. Therefore, we at AstraZeneca are pushing the boundaries of science in a new era of Cardiovascular and Diabetes research, to move novel therapeutic modalities from the laboratory into clinical trials, focusing on treatment modalities to treat life threatening cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure.” — SG