Initial Experience of Vericiguat Treatment in Patients with Heart Failure and Reduced Ejection Fraction

Background: Vericiguat, a novel oral soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator, decreased the incidence of cardiovascular death and heart failure hospitalization in the cohort receiving triple therapy for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. However, efficacy and optimal patient selection in real-world practice in the era of “quadruple therapy” remains unknown. Methods: Consecutive patients who received vericiguat between September 2021 and December 2022 were retrospectively evaluated. Results: A total of 28 patients (median age 66 years, median left ventricular ejection fraction 33%) were included. Of them, 21 patients (75%) received quadruple therapy, and the dose of sacubitril/valsartan was 100 mg in the median. Three patients receiving dobutamine infusion discontinued vericiguat due to symptomatic hypotension. One patient with a high N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide of 4848 pg/mL at the baseline underwent unexpected heart failure hospitalization. Efficacy was evaluated in 21 patients who continued vericiguat for more than 4 months. The plasma B-type natriuretic peptide concentration tended to increase during the six-month pre-treatment period from 104 pg/mL to 179 pg/mL on median (p = 0.665) but remained unchanged after six-month vericiguat treatment to 170 pg/mL on median (p = 0.188). Conclusions: Vericiguat therapy might be feasible and effective upon quadruple therapy for those with heart failure, although further investigation is warranted to validate our findings.