Chinese researchers demonstrate efficiency, safety of new drug for oHCM

BEIJING, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have demonstrated the efficiency and safety of Mavacamten in the treatment of obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (oHCM), according to the Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

Mavacamten has shown clinical benefits in global studies for patients with oHCM, while evidence in the Asian population is lacking.

According to the researchers, they had hoped to evaluate the safety and efficacy of mavacamten compared with placebo for Chinese patients with symptomatic oHCM. They conducted a phase-3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial involving 81 patients at more than 10 hospitals nationwide.

Patients were randomized two to one to receive mavacamten or placebo for 30 weeks. The results showed that the mavacamten demonstrated a significant improvement in the primary endpoint compared with placebo, according to a research article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Cardiology.

Safety and tolerability were similar between mavacamten and placebo. No patients experienced a left ventricular ejection fraction of less than 50 percent, according to the research article.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a myocardial disorder clinically characterized by left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy, which is caused, in most cases, by variants in the genes encoding sarcomeres, the article noted.

HCM commonly manifests as LV outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction, a major prognostic factor for patients with HCM and associated with increased risk of disease progression, congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation, stroke and mortality.

Therefore, relieving LVOT obstruction is one of the main therapeutic aims for patients with oHCM.