As we appear to have a lull waiting for the AGM and possible announcements, I thought I could side track the discussion a bit, with, at least for me, an interesting perspective and comparison. I'll be happy to read any comments or critiques.

Last year, Novartis announced Entresto (TM) for Heartfailure (with low ejection fraction), and recently the new drug has been promoted in TV ads, which roused my curiosity:

https://www.novartis.com/news/media-releases/novartis-new-heart-failure-medicine-lcz696-now-called-entrestotm-approved-fda

What I found interesting in the Novatis announcement were several points:

- the drug was approved expedited based on Phase 3 results.

- reduced the risk of death from cardiovascular causes by 20%

- reduced heart failure hospitalization by 21%

- reduced the risk of all-cause mortality by 16%

"Overall there was a 20% risk reduction on the primary endpoint, a composite measure of CV death or a time to first heart failure hospilization."

I think this is over and above existing treatments

I am unfamiliar with success criteria, and am amazed by the 20% measure of success.

This drug, Entresto, is limited to patients with reduced Ejection Fraction, which is not the scope of the RVX208 trial. It also is not without potential side effects. I was amazed that a 20% improvement over existing drugs was such a significant success to warrant immediate release.

It certainly increases my confidence that an RVX208 with limited side effects and broader scope could be quite a success. What is the BetonMace target?

Deke

PS: is there any overlap with RVX208 and reduced ejection fraction?

For Canadians: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/prodpharma/rds-sdr/drug-med/rds-sdr-entresto-182734-eng.php