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Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures This trial was sponsored by Novo Nordisk A/S. Prof Verma has received research grants and/or speaking honoraria from Amarin, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group, Eli Lilly, HLS Therapeutics, Janssen, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, PhaseBio, S & L Solutions Event Management, and Sanofi; and has served as the Canadian Lead Investigator on the SELECT trial and as a member of the Global Expert Panel for SELECT. Prof Emerson has served as a consultant for Novo Nordisk through participation on Steering Committees for cardiovascular outcome trials of semaglutide in obesity/overweight (SELECT) and in type 2 diabetes (SOUL) (with an earlier role on a cardiovascular outcome trial of insulin degludec). Prof Plutzky has received consulting honoraria from Altimmune, Amgen, Esperion Therapeutics, Merck, MJH Life Sciences, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk; has received a grant, paid to his institution, from Boehringer Ingelheim; and holds the position of Director, Preventive Cardiology, at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Prof Kahn has received consulting honoraria from Anii Pharmaceuticals, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Merck, Novo Nordisk, and Oramed; and has received stock options from AltPep. Dr Stensen is employed by and is a stakeholder in Novo Nordisk. Dr Weeke is employed by and is a stakeholder in Novo Nordisk. Dr Musinga is employed as a statistical consultant, funded by Novo Nordisk. Prof Poirier has received research grants, consulting honoraria, and/or speaker honoraria from AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, HLS Therapeutics, Janssen, Mantra Pharma, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi. Prof Lingvay has received research grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Sanofi U.S. Services; has served as a consultant for AstraZeneca, Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Biomea, Boehringer Ingelheim, Carmot Therapeutics, Eli Lilly, Intarcia Therapeutics, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Global Services, Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group-Latin America, MannKind Corporation, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Sanofi U.S. Services, Shionogi, Structure Therapeutics, Target Pharma, Valeritas, and Zealand Pharma; and has received travel expenses from Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group-Latin America, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi U.S. Services, and Zealand Pharma. Prof Lincoff has received research grants from AbbVie, AstraZeneca, CSL Behring, Eli Lilly, Esperion Therapeutics, and Novartis, paid to his institution; and has served as a consultant for Akebia Therapeutics, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Ardelyx, Eli Lilly, Entity, FibroGen, GlaxoSmithKline, Intarcia, Medtronic Vascular, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Provention Bio, and Recor Medical.

Background: Obesity and hypercholesterolemia independently increase cardiovascular disease risk. This analysis evaluated the efficacy and safety of bempedoic acid in people with obesity participating in the CLEAR (Cholesterol Lowering via Bempedoic Acid [ECT1002], an ACL-Inhibiting Regimen) Outcomes trial., Methods: CLEAR Outcomes randomized 13 970 patients to daily bempedoic acid 180 mg or placebo. Exploratory outcomes including major adverse cardiovascular events-4 (cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or coronary revascularization), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, hs-CRP (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein), weight change, and safety were assessed over a median of 40.7 months in 6177 patients with baseline body mass index ≥30 kg/m 2 ., Results: In people with obesity, bempedoic acid resulted in placebo-corrected reductions in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol of -22.5% and hs-CRP of -23.2% at 6 months. Bempedoic acid treatment resulted in a major adverse cardiovascular events-4 reduction of 23% (hazard ratio [HR], 0.77 [95% CI, 0.67-0.89]) versus placebo. Nonfatal and fatal MI were reduced by 32% (HR, 0.68 [95% CI, 0.53-0.86]), coronary revascularization was reduced by 24% (HR, 0.76 [95% CI, 0.63-0.92]), and fatal and nonfatal stroke were reduced by 36% (HR, 0.64 [95% CI, 0.45-0.89]) compared with placebo. At month 36, mean±SD change in weight from baseline was -2.3 (6.3) kg for bempedoic acid and -1.4 (6.1) kg for placebo. Adverse events were reported in 87.4% of bempedoic acid patients and 86.7% of placebo patients. The mean±SD change in uric acid at 6 months was 0.81 (1.26) mg/dL for bempedoic acid versus -0.04 (1.05) mg/dL for placebo., Conclusions: Among people with obesity, bempedoic acid reduced major adverse cardiovascular events, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and hs-CRP, with a safety profile consistent with previous reports., Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique Identifier: NCT02993406.

Context: Whether circulating testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, and estradiol levels or testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) affects the risk of COVID-19 and whether COVID-19 affects response to TRT remains unknown., Objective: The study evaluated whether baseline testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, and estradiol levels or TRT are associated with risk of developing COVID-19 and whether COVID-19 affects treatment response to TRT., Methods: Among 5204 men, aged 45 to 80 years, with hypogonadism in the TRAVERSE trial, 379 developed COVID-19. We compared baseline and on-treatment hormone levels, and safety and efficacy in participants with and without COVID-19 diagnosis., Results: Neither baseline nor on-treatment testosterone, estradiol, and dihydrotestosterone levels prior to COVID-19 differed significantly between men with and without COVID-19 diagnosis. Incidence of COVID-19 was similar in participants randomized to TRT or placebo groups (3-year Kaplan-Meier incidence 8.0% in TRT and 8.6% in placebo group, P = .823). Incidences of COVID-19-related hospitalizations (38.5% vs 32.8%, P = .222) and deaths (12.8% vs 8.9%, P = .247) were similar in the TRT and placebo groups. Changes in hypogonadal symptoms, libido, energy, and hemoglobin/hematocrit in response to TRT were attenuated in testosterone-treated men who developed COVID-19. Incidences of major adverse cardiovascular events, venous thromboembolism, and acute kidney injury were similar in those with COVID-19 diagnosis and those without., Conclusion: In men with hypogonadism and cardiovascular disease (CVD) or increased risk of CVD, baseline and pre-COVID-19 on-treatment testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, and estradiol levels were similar in those who developed COVID-19 and those who did not. TRT did not affect the risk of COVID-19. COVID-19 attenuated the treatment response to TRT., (© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Endocrine Society.)

AimsThe cardioprotective effects of semaglutide 2.4 mg reported in the SELECT cardiovascular (CV) outcomes trial (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03574597) provide clinical benefit for subjects with overweight or obesity and established CV disease without type 2 diabetes (T2D). We assessed cost-effectiveness of semaglutide 2.4 mg in this population against the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association value framework.Materials and methodsA cohort-level Markov-state cost-effectiveness model using trial-derived data with outcomes from a healthcare sector perspective measured over a lifetime horizon was developed. Treatment costs were based on US list prices; scenario analyses used literature-reported estimated rebates. Healthcare costs and benefits were discounted at 3.0%. A simulated cohort of 100,000 subjects was aligned to the SELECT trial population baseline characteristics and time-on-treatment. Subjects received either semaglutide 2.4 mg or placebo in addition to standard of care (SoC). Modelled outcomes included clinical events (CV events, progression to T2D, chronic kidney disease [CKD]) and health economic measures, including direct costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs).ResultsMean semaglutide 2.4 mg treatment duration was 2.79 years. Per 100,000 subjects, treatment avoided 2,791 non-fatal myocardial infarctions, 3,000 coronary revascularizations, 487 non-fatal strokes, and 115 CV deaths over the modeled lifetime horizon. Average per-subject lifetime treatment costs were $47,353; savings arose from avoided T2D ($14,431), CKD ($2,074), and CV events ($1,512). Semaglutide 2.4 mg was associated with increased lifetime costs ($29,767), additional QALYs gained (0.218) and an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $136,271/QALY at list price; a scenario using an empirically estimated 48% rebate predicted $32,219/QALY.LimitationsThe generalizability of observations from SELECT to a broader US population is unknown. Our model does not capture all outcomes nor costs that may be affected by weight loss. Modeling assumptions may present limitations.ConclusionsSemaglutide 2.4 mg use as in SELECT is cost-effective at list price, using a $150,000/QALY willingness-to-pay threshold.

Background and Aims: In the AEGIS-II trial (NCT03473223), CSL112, a human apolipoprotein A1 derived from plasma that increases cholesterol efflux capacity, did not significantly reduce the risk of the primary endpoint through 90 days vs. placebo after acute myocardial infarction (MI). Nevertheless, given the well-established relationship between higher low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and plaque burden, as well as greater risk reductions seen with PCSK9 inhibitors in patients with baseline LDL-C ≥ 100 mg/dL on statin therapy, the efficacy of CSL112 may be influenced by baseline LDL-C., Methods: Overall, 18 219 patients with acute MI, multivessel coronary artery disease, and additional risk factors were randomized to either four weekly infusions of 6 g CSL112 or placebo. This exploratory post-hoc analysis evaluated cardiovascular outcomes by baseline LDL-C in patients prescribed guideline-directed statin therapy at the time of randomization (n = 15 731)., Results: As baseline LDL-C increased, the risk of the primary endpoint at 90 days lowered in those treated with CSL112 compared with placebo. In patients with LDL-C ≥ 100 mg/dL at randomization, there was a significant risk reduction of cardiovascular death, MI, or stroke in the CSL112 vs. placebo group at 90, 180, and 365 days [hazard ratio .69 (.53-.90), .71 (.57-.88), and .78 (.65-.93)]. In contrast, there was no difference between treatment groups among those with LDL-C < 100 mg/dL at baseline., Conclusions: In this population, treatment with CSL112 compared to placebo was associated with a significantly lower risk of recurrent cardiovascular events among patients with a baseline LDL-C ≥ 100 mg/dL. Further studies need to confirm that CSL112 efficacy is influenced by baseline LDL-C., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: Following an acute myocardial infarction (AMI), patients remain at risk for subsequent cardiovascular (CV) events. In the AEGIS-II trial, CSL112, a human apolipoprotein A-I derived from plasma that enhances cholesterol efflux, did not significantly reduce the first occurrence of CV death, myocardial infarction (MI), or stroke through 90 days compared with placebo. However, an analysis involving only the first event may not capture the totality of the clinical impact of an intervention because patients may experience multiple events., Objectives: This prespecified exploratory analysis examines the effect of CSL112 on total burden of nonfatal ischemic events (ie, recurrent MI and stroke) and CV death., Methods: A total of 18,219 patients with AMI, multivessel coronary artery disease, and additional CV risk factors were randomized to either 4 weekly infusions of 6 g CSL112 (n = 9,112) or matching placebo (n = 9,107). A negative binomial regression model was applied to estimate the effect of CSL112 compared with placebo on the rate ratio (RR) of ischemic events., Results: For CV death, MI, and stroke, there were numerically fewer total events at 90 days (503 vs 545 events; rate ratio [RR]: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.76-1.03, P = 0.11), and nominally significantly fewer total events at 180 days (745 vs 821 events, RR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.77-0.99; P = 0.04) and 365 days (1,120 vs 1,211 events; RR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.80-0.99; P = 0.04). Subsequent events constituted 13% of events at 90 days, 17% at 180 days, and 22% at 1 year. Similar findings were seen with the total occurrence of nonfatal MI and CV death. When type II MIs, unlikely to be modified by enhancing cholesterol efflux, were excluded, there were nominally significant reductions in the total occurrence of nonfatal MI (excluding type 2) and CV death at all time points (90 days: RR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.68-0.97; P = 0.02; 180 days: RR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.71-0.95; P < 0.01; 365 days: RR: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.76-0.98; P = 0.02)., Conclusions: In this prespecified exploratory analysis of the AEGIS-II trial, 4 weekly infusions of CSL112 among high-risk patients after AMI significantly reduced the total burden of nonfatal ischemic events and CV death at 180 and 365 days compared with placebo. (AEGIS-II [Study to Investigate CSL112 in Subjects With Acute Coronary Syndrome]; NCT03473223)., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures The study was sponsored by CSL Behring. CSL Behring was involved in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, and the preparation, review, and approval of the manuscript. The decision to submit the manuscript for publication was made by the academic leadership of the steering committee. Dr Gibson has received research funding from CSL Behring, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Johnson and Johnson Corporation, and SCAD Alliance; has been a consultant for Angel/Avertix Medical Corporation, AstraZeneca, Bayer Corporation, Beren Therapeutics, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Clinical Research Institute, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardiovascular Research Foundation, CeleCor Therapeutics, CSL Behring, DCRI, Esperion, EXCITE International ($0 received), Fortress Biotech, Gilead Sciences Inc., Janssen, Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson Corporation, MashUp MD, MD Magazine, Microport, MJHealth, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, PHRI, PLxPharma, SCAI, Solstic Health/New Amsterdam Pharma, Somahlution/Marizyme, Vectura, Web MD, and Women as One; has equity in nference, Dyad Medical, Absolutys, and Fortress Biotech; and has received royalties as a contributor to UpToDate. Dr Chi has received research grant support paid to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School from Bayer, CSL Behring, Janssen Scientific Affairs, and SCAD Alliance. Dr Duffy has received salary as an employee of CSL Behring. Dr Bahit has received honoraria from MSD, Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, Janssen, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Anthos Therapeutics. Dr White has received grant support to institution from Sanofi, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly, Omthera Pharmaceuticals, American Regent, Eisai Inc, DalCor Pharma UK Inc., CSL Behring, NHI, Sanofi-Aventis Australia Pty Ltd, Esperion Therapeutics Inc, and National Institutes of Health; has received fees for serving on Steering Committees of the ODYSSEY trial from Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, the ISCHEMIA and the MINT studies from the National Institutes of Health, the STRENGTH trial from Omthera Pharmaceuticals, the HEART-FID study from American Regent, the DAL-GENE study from DalCor Pharma UK Inc., the AEGIS-II study from CSL Behring, the SCORED trial and the SOLOIST-WHF trial from Sanofi Australia Pty Ltd, and the CLEAR OUTCOMES study from Esperion Therapeutics. Dr Korjian has received research grant support paid to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School from CSL Behring. Dr Alexander has received research grants through Duke University from Artivion/CryoLife, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, Ferring, the U.S. FDA, Humacyte, and the U.S. NIH; has served as advisory board member or received honoraria or consulting payments from AbbVie, Artivion/CryoLife, AtriCure, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Curis, Eli Lilly, Ferring, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Novostia, Pfizer, Portola, Theravance, and Veralox. Dr Lincoff has received research funding from Esperion, Eli Lilly, Novartis, AstraZeneca, AbbVie; and has been a consultant for Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Glaxo, Akebia, Endologix, Fibrogen, Provention, Becton Dickson, Brainstorm Cell, Intarcia, Medtronic, and Recor. Dr Anschuetz has received a salary as an employee of CSL Behring. Dr Girgis has received a salary as an employee of CSL Behring. Dr Nicolau has received a scholarship from the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) #303448/2021-0; has received research grants from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, CSL Behring, Daiichi-Sankyo, Dalcor, Esperion, Ionis, Janssen, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Vifor; and has received consulting fees from Libbs. Dr Lopes has received grant support from Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Pfizer, and Sanofi; has been a consultant for AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Novo Nordisk; and has participated in educational activities for Daiichi-Sankyo, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer. Dr Bainey has received research support from CSL Behring. Dr Libby has served on a scientific advisory board for Amgen, Kowa Pharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk, Caristo, CSL Behring, DalCor, Dewpoint, Euclid Bioimaging, Xbiotech, Olatec, Medimmune, PlaqueTec, Polygon Therapeutics, TenSixteen Bio, Soley Therapeutics; and has been a consultant for Amgen, Baim Institute Beren, Esperion, Genentech, Kancera, Kowa Pharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, and Sanofi-Regeneron. Dr Sacks has received support from CSL Behring. Dr Ridker has received institutional research grant support from Kowa, Novartis, Amarin, Pfizer, Esperion, Novo Nordisk, and the NHLBI; has served as a consultant to numerous companies including Novartis, Flame, Agepha, Ardelyx, Arrowhead, AstraZeneca, CSL Behring, Janssen, Civi Biopharm, GlaxoSmithKline, SOCAR, Novo Nordisk, Health Outlook, Montai Health, Eli Lilly, New Amsterdam, Boehringer Ingelheim, RTI, Zomagen, Cytokinetics, Horizon Therapeutics, and Cardio Therapeutics; holds minority shareholder equity positions in Uppton, Bitteroot Bio, and Angiowave; and receives compensation for service on the Peter Munk Advisory Board (University of Toronto), the Leducq Foundation (Paris, FR), and the Baim Institute (Boston, Massachusetts). Dr Goodman has received research grant support (eg, steering committee or data and safety monitoring committee) and/or speaker/consulting honoraria (eg, advisory boards) from Alnylam, Amgen, Anthos Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, CYTE Ltd., Daiichi-Sankyo/American Regent, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, HLS Therapeutics, Idorsia, JAMP Pharma, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk A/C, Pendopharm/Pharmascience, Pfizer, Regeneron, Roche, Sanofi, Servier, Tolmar Pharmaceuticals, Valeo Pharma; has received salary support/honoraria from the Canadian Heart Failure Society, Canadian Heart Research Centre and MD Primer, Canadian VIGOUR Centre, Cleveland Clinic Coordinating Centre for Clinical Research, Duke Clinical Research Institute, Jewish General Hospital∖CIUSSS Centre-Ouest-de-l'Ile-de-Montreal, New York University Clinical Coordinating Centre, PERFUSE Research Institute, Peter Munk Cardiac Centre Clinical Trials and Translation Unit, Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, and TIMI Study Group (Brigham Health). Dr Mahaffey has received grants from AHA, Apple Inc, Bayer, California Institute Regenerative Medicine, CSL Behring, Eidos, Ferring, Gilead, Google (Verily), Idorsia, Johnson & Johnson, Luitpold, Novartis, PAC-12, Precordior, Sanifit; has received consulting fees from applied Therapeutics, Bayer, BMS, BridgeBio, CSL Behring, Elsevier, Fosun Pharma, Human, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Myokardia, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Otsuka, Phasebio, Portola, Quidel, Theravance; has received payment or honoraria from CSL Behring; and has stock or stock options in Human, Medeloop, Precordior, and Regencor. Dr Nicholls has received research support from AstraZeneca, Amgen, Anthera, CSL Behring, Cerenis, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Resverlogix, Novartis, InfraReDx, and Sanofi-Regeneron; and has been a consultant for Amgen, Akcea, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSL Behring, Daiichi-Sankyo, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Kowa, Merck, Takeda, Pfizer, Sanofi-Regeneron, Novo Nordisk, CSL Sequiris, and Vaxxinity. Dr Pocock has been a consultant to CSL Behring. Dr Mehran has received institutional research payments from Abbott, Affluent Medical, Alleviant Medical, Amgen, AstraZeneca, BAIM, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, CardiaWave, CERC, Chiesi, Concept Medical, Daiichi-Sankyo, Duke, Faraday, Idorsia, Janssen, MedAlliance, Medscape, Mediasphere, Medtelligence, Medtronic, Novartis, OrbusNeich, Pi-Cardia, Protembis, RM Global Bioaccess Fund Management, and Sanofi; has received personal fees from Affluent Medical, Boehringer Ingelheim, Chiesi USA, Cordis, Daiichi-Sankyo, Esperion Science/Innovative Biopharma, Gaffney Events, Educational Trust, Global Clinical Trial Partners, Ltd., IQVIA, Medscape/WebMD Global, Novo Nordisk, PeerView Institute for Medical Education, TERUMO Europe N.V., and Radcliffe; has held equity <1% in Elixir Medical, Stel, ControlRad (spouse); has received an honorarium from AMA; is associate editor of JAMA Cardiology; and is a BOT Member, SC Member CTR Program of ACC. Dr Harrington has research relationships with Baim Institute, CSL, Janssen, NHLBI, PCORI, and DCRI; has consulting relationships with Atropos Health, Bitterroot Bio, BMS, BridgeBio, Element Science, Edwards Lifesciences, Foresite Labs, Medscape/WebMD; and serves on boards of directors for the American Heart Association, College of the Holy Cross, and Cytokinetics. Dr Cornel has reported that he has no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures This study was funded by Novo Nordisk A/S. Dr Verma has received research grants and/or speaking honoraria from Amarin, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group, Eli Lilly, HLS Therapeutics, Janssen, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, PhaseBio, S & L Solutions Event Management Inc, and Sanofi. Dr Colhoun holds the AXA Research Fund endowed Chair in Medical Informatics and Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh. Dr Dicker has received consulting honoraria from Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Boehringer Ingelheim, and AstraZeneca; and has received research grants through his affiliation from Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Rhythm. Dr Hovingh is an employee of and stakeholder in Novo Nordisk. Dr Kahn has received advisory board/consulting fees from AltPep, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Casma Therapeutics, Eli Lilly, Intarcia, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Oramed, Pfizer, and Third Rock Ventures. Dr Kautzky-Willer has received speaker honoraria from Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Merck. Dr Lingvay has received research grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Sanofi U.S. Services Inc; has served as a consultant for AstraZeneca, Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc, Biomea, Boehringer Ingelheim, Carmot, Eli Lilly and Company, Intarcia, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Janssen Global Services, LLC, Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group–Latin America, LLC, MannKind Corporation, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer Inc, Sanofi U.S. Services Inc, Shionogi Inc, Structure Therapeutics, Target Pharma, Valeritas, Inc, and Zealand Pharma; and has received travel expenses from Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly and Company, Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group–Latin America, LLC, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi U.S. Services Inc, and Zealand Pharma A/S. Dr Plutzky has received consulting honoraria from Altimmune, Amgen, Esperion Therapeutics, Inc, Merck, MJH Life Sciences, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk; has received a grant, paid to his institution, from Boehringer Ingelheim; and holds the position of Director, Preventive Cardiology, at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Drs Rasmussen, Rathor, and Hoff are employees of, and shareholder in, Novo Nordisk. Dr Lincoff has received research grants from AbbVie Inc, AstraZeneca, CSL Behring, Eli Lilly and Company, Esperion Therapeutics, Inc, and Novartis, paid to his institution; and has served as a consultant for Akebia Therapeutics Inc, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc, Ardelyx, Eli Lilly and Company, FibroGen, GlaxoSmithKline, Intarcia, Medtronic Vascular, Inc, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Novo Nordisk, Provention Bio, Entity, and ReCor Medical.

Background: Patients with overweight and obesity are at increased risk of death from multiple causes, including cardiovascular (CV) death, with few therapies proven to reduce the risk., Objectives: This study sought to assess the effect of semaglutide 2.4 mg on all-cause death, CV death, and non-CV death, including subcategories of death and death from coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19)., Methods: The SELECT (Semaglutide Effects on Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients With Overweight or Obesity) trial randomized 17,604 participants ≥45 years of age with a body mass index ≥27 kg/m 2 with established CV disease but without diabetes to once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide 2.4 mg or placebo; the mean trial duration was 3.3 years. Adjudicated causes of all deaths, COVID-19 cases, and associated deaths were captured prospectively., Results: Of 833 deaths, 485 (58%) were CV deaths, and 348 (42%) were non-CV deaths. Participants assigned to semaglutide vs placebo had lower rates of all-cause death (HR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.71-0.93), CV death (HR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.71-1.01), and non-CV death (HR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.62-0.95). The most common causes of CV death with semaglutide vs placebo were sudden cardiac death (98 vs 109; HR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.68-1.17) and undetermined death (77 vs 90; HR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.63-1.15). Infection was the most common cause of non-CV death and occurred at a lower rate in the semaglutide vs the placebo group (62 vs 87; HR: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.51-0.98). Semaglutide did not reduce incident COVID-19; however, among participants who developed COVID-19, fewer participants treated with semaglutide had COVID-19-related serious adverse events (232 vs 277; P = 0.04) or died of COVID-19 (43 vs 65; HR: 0.66; 95% CI: 0.44-0.96). High rates of infectious deaths occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, with less infectious death in the semaglutide arm, and resulted in fewer participants in the placebo group being at risk for CV death., Conclusions: Compared to placebo, patients treated with semaglutide 2.4 mg had lower rates of all-cause death, driven similarly by CV and non-CV death. The lower rate of non-CV death with semaglutide was predominantly because of fewer infectious deaths. These findings highlight the effect of semaglutide on mortality across a broad population of patients with CV disease and obesity. (Semaglutide Effects on Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients With Overweight or Obesity [SELECT]; NCT03574597)., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures Dr Scirica has received institutional research grants to Brigham and Women’s Hospital from Better Therapeutics, Merck, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer; has received consulting fees from Allergan, Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Better Therapeutics, Elsevier Practice Update Cardiology, Esperion, Hanmi, Lexicon, and Novo Nordisk; and holds equity in Health [at] Scale and Doximity. Dr Lincoff has received research grants from AbbVie Inc, AstraZeneca, CSL Behring, Eli Lilly and Company, Esperion Therapeutics, Inc, and Novartis paid to his institution; and has served as a consultant for Akebia Therapeutics Inc, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc, Ardelyx, Eli Lilly and Company, FibroGen, GlaxoSmithKline, Intarcia, Medtronic Vascular Inc, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Novo Nordisk, Provention Bio, Entity, and ReCor Medical. Dr Lingvay has received research grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Sanofi US Services Inc; has served as a consultant for AstraZeneca, Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc, Biomea, Boehringer Ingelheim, Carmot, Eli Lilly and Company, Intarcia, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Janssen Global Services, LLC, Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group-Latin America, LLC, MannKind Corporation, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer Inc, Sanofi US Services Inc, Shionogi Inc, Structure Therapeutics, Target Pharma, Valeritas, Inc, and Zealand Pharma; and has received travel expenses from Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly and Company, Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group-Latin America, LLC, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi US Services Inc, and Zealand Pharma A/S. Dr Buscemi has received advisory/consulting honoraria from Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Dompè. Dr Colhoun has served on advisory panels for Novo Nordisk and Bayer; has received research funding from Sanofi, Roche, and IQVIA; has received grants from Chief Scientist Office, Diabetes UK, European Commission, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and Medical Research Council; has served on the Speakers Bureau for Novo Nordisk; and holds equity in Roche Pharmaceuticals and Bayer. Dr Craciun has received advisory/consulting fees and/or other support from Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Servier, Berlin Chemie, and Viatris. Dr Hardt-Lindberg is an employee of and stakeholder in Novo Nordisk. Dr Jeppesen is an employee of and stakeholder in Novo Nordisk. Dr Matos is an employee of and stakeholder in Novo Nordisk. Dr Node has received honoraria from AstraZeneca, Bayer Yakuhin, Boehringer Ingelheim Japan, Daiichi-Sankyo, Eli Lilly Japan, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis Pharma, and Otsuka; has received research grants from Astellas, Bayer Yakuhin, Boehringer Ingelheim Japan, Fujiyakuhin, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, Mochida Pharmaceutical, and Novartis Pharma; and has received scholarships from Abbott, Boehringer Ingelheim Japan, Daiichi-Sankyo, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, and Teijin Pharma. Dr Toplak has received institutional research grants from Amgen, Daiichi-Sankyo, Novo Nordisk, and Novartis; and has received consulting/speaker honoraria from Amgen, Daiichi-Sankyo, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk. Dr van Beek has been contracted via the University of Groningen (no personal payment) to undertake consultancy for Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, and Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr Weeke is an employee of and stakeholder in Novo Nordisk. Dr Wiviott has received research grants from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Merck, and Pfizer; has received consulting fees from Icon, Novo Nordisk, and Verian; has received speaking honoraria from Harvard Medical School; is a member of the TIMI Study Group, which has received institutional research grant support through Brigham and Women’s Hospital from Abbott, Amgen, Anthos Therapeutics, ARCA Biopharma, Inc, AstraZeneca, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Daiichi-Sankyo, Eisai, Intarcia, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Janssen Research and Development, LLC, MedImmune, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Quark Pharmaceuticals, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Roche, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, Inc, Softcell Medical Limited, The Medicines Company, and Zora Biosciences; and his spouse, Dr Caroline Fox, is a former employee of Merck, Flagship Labs, and current employee of Vertex. Dr Deanfield has received consulting honoraria from Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Pfizer, Aegerion, Novartis, Sanofi, Takeda, Novo Nordisk, and Bayer; and has received research grants from British Heart Foundation, MRC(UK), National Institute for Health and Care Research, PHE, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Pfizer, Aegerion, Colgate, and Roche. Dr Ryan has received consulting honoraria from Altimmune, Amgen, Biohaven, Boehringer Ingelheim, Calibrate, Carmot Therapeutics, CinRx, Eli Lilly, Epitomee, Gila Therapeutics, Ifa Celtic, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Rhythm, Scientific Intake, Wondr Health, and Zealand; and has received stock options from Calibrate, Epitomee, Scientific Intake, and Xeno Bioscience. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Heart failure with mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction (hereafter referred to as HFpEF) is the most common type of heart failure and is associated with a high risk of hospitalisation and death, especially in patients with overweight, obesity, or type 2 diabetes. In the STEP-HFpEF and STEP-HFpEF DM trials, semaglutide improved heart failure-related symptoms and physical limitations in participants with HFpEF. Whether semaglutide also reduces clinical heart failure events in this group remains to be established., Methods: We conducted a post-hoc pooled, participant-level analysis of four randomised, placebo-controlled trials (SELECT, FLOW, STEP-HFpEF, and STEP-HFpEF DM) to examine the effects of once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide (2·4 mg in SELECT, STEP-HFpEF, and STEP-HFpEF DM; 1·0 mg in FLOW) on heart failure events. The STEP-HFpEF and STEP-HFpF DM trials enrolled participants with obesity-related HFpEF, the SELECT trial enrolled participants with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and overweight or obesity, and the FLOW trial enrolled participants with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease. Hence, for this analysis, we include all participants from the STEP-HFpEF trials and those with an investigator-reported history of HFpEF from SELECT and FLOW. The main outcomes for this analysis were the composite endpoint of time to cardiovascular death or first worsening heart failure event (defined as hospitalisation or urgent visit due to heart failure), time to first worsening heart failure event, and time to cardiovascular death. Efficacy and safety endpoints were analysed with the full analysis set (ie, all participants randomly assigned to treatment, according to the intention-to-treat principle). The SELECT, FLOW, STEP-HFpEF, and STEP-HFpEF DM trials are registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03574597, NCT03819153, NCT04788511, and NCT04916470, respectively, and all are complete., Findings: Across the four trials, 3743 (16·8%) of 22 282 participants had a history of HFpEF (1914 assigned to semaglutide and 1829 assigned to placebo). In this group of participants with HFpEF, semaglutide reduced the risk of the combined endpoint of cardiovascular death or heart failure events (103 [5·4%] of 1914 in the semaglutide group had events vs 138 [7·5%] of 1829 in the placebo group; hazard ratio [HR] 0·69 [95% CI 0·53-0·89]; p=0·0045). Semaglutide also reduced the risk of worsening heart failure events (54 [2·8%] vs 86 [4·7%]; HR 0·59 [0·41-0·82]; p=0·0019). No significant effect on cardiovascular death alone was seen (59 [3·1%] vs 67 [3·7%]; HR 0·82 [0·57-1·16]; p=0·25). A lower proportion of patients treated with semaglutide had serious adverse events than did those who were treated with placebo (572 [29·9%] vs 708 [38·7%])., Interpretation: In patients with HFpEF, semaglutide reduced the risk of the combined endpoint of cardiovascular death or worsening heart failure events, and worsening heart failure events alone, whereas its effect on cardiovascular death alone was not significant. These data support the use of semaglutide as an efficacious therapy to reduce the risk of clinical heart failure events in patients with HFpEF, for whom few treatment options are currently available., Funding: Novo Nordisk., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests MNK has served as a consultant for 35Pharma, Alnylam, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Corcept Therapeutics, Dexcom, Eli Lilly, Esperion Therapeutics, Imbria Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Merck (Diabetes and Cardiovascular), Novo Nordisk, Pharmacosmos, Pfizer, Regeneron, scPharmaceuticals, Structure Therapeutics, Vifor Pharma, and Youngene Therapeutics; has served on a data monitoring board for Applied Therapeutics; has served on an advisory board for Alnylam, Amgen, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Corcept Therapeutics, Eli Lilly, Esperion Therapeutics, Merck (Diabetes and Cardiovascular), Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi; has received research grants from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Pfizer; holds stocks in Artera Health and Saghmos Therapeutics; has received honoraria from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novo Nordisk; and has received support for data analyses from AstraZeneca and Vifor. JD has received consulting honoraria from Aegerion, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Sanofi, and Takeda and research grants from Aegerion, British Heart Foundation, Colgate, UK Medical Research Council, MSD, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Pfizer, Public Health England, and Roche. RP reports speaker fees from Eli Lilly, Lilly USA, and Novo Nordisk; consulting fees from AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Corcept Therapeutics, Dexcom, Endogenex, Gasherbrum Bio, Genprex, Getz Pharma, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, Hengrui (USA), Intas Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly, Lilly USA, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Rivus Pharmaceuticals, Scholar Rock, and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries; and grants from Biomea Fusion, Carmot Therapeutics, Dompe, Endogenex, Fractyl, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi. All grants are directed to RP's institution. Up to Dec 31, 2023, payment for RP's consultant and speaker services was made directly to his employer, AdventHealth, a nonprofit entity; as of Jan 1, 2024, payment was directed to RP personally. BAB receives research support from the US National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Defense, as well as research grant funding from AstraZeneca, Axon Therapies, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Mesoblast, Novo Nordisk, Rivus, and Tenax Therapeutics; he has served as a consultant for Actelion, Amgen, Aria, Axon Therapies, BD, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Edwards Lifesciences, Eli Lilly, Imbria, Janssen, Merck, NGM, Novo Nordisk, NXT, and VADovations; and is named inventor (US patent number 10,307,179) for the tools and approach for a minimally invasive pericardial modification procedure to treat heart failure. JB is a consultant to Abbott, American Regent, Amgen, Applied Therapeutics, AskBio, Astellas, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardiac Dimension, CardioCell, Cardior, CSL Behring, CVRx, Cytokinetics, Daxor, Edwards Lifesciences, Element Science, Faraday, Foundry, G3P, Imbria, Impulse Dynamics, Innolife, Inventiva, Ionis, Levator, Lexicon, Lilly, LivaNova, Janssen, Medtronics, Merck, Occlutech, Owkin, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Pharmacosmos, PharmaIN, Prolaio, Pulnovo, Regeneron, Renibus, Roche, Salamandra, Salubris, Sanofi, scPharmaceuticals, Secretome, Sequana, SQ Innovation, Tenex, Tricog, Ultromics, Vifor, and Zoll. MJD has acted as a consultant, advisory board member, and speaker for Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi; an advisory board member for AstraZeneca, Carmot/Roche, Medtronic, Pfizer, and Zealand Pharma; and a speaker for Amgen and AstraZeneca; and has received grants from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi-Aventis. SSE has received consulting fees from Amylyx, AstraZeneca, Avillion, Ayala, Bayer, BeiGene, Boehringer Ingelheim, 89 Bio, BioAge, BioAtla, Bristol Meyer Squibb, BridgeBio, Daiichi Sankyo, Denovo, Fore Therapeutics, GlaxoSmithKline, Inovio, Insmed, Ipsen, Karuna, Lilly, Lundbeck, Mirati, Moderna, Novartis, Novavax, Novo Nordisk, National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project, Pfizer, Principia, Reata, Rebiotx, Roche, Sanofi, solvd, Sutro Biopharma, and TG Therapeutics. SEK received consulting fees from Casma Therapeutics, Oramed, and Third Rock Ventures; and served on an advisory board for AltPep, Anji Pharmaceuticals, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Intarcia, Merck, and Novo Nordisk. He has received stock options from AltPep. DK was supported in part by the Kermit Glenn Phillips II Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine and US National Institutes of Health grants U01AG076928, R01AG078153, R01AG045551, R01AG18915, P30AG021332, U24AG059624, and U01HL160272; and received honoraria as a consultant for AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Corvia Medical, Ketyo, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Rivus; grant funding from AstraZeneca, Bayer, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Rivus; and has stock ownership in Gilead Sciences. IL has received research grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Sanofi; served as a consultant for AstraZeneca, Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Biomea, Boehringer Ingelheim, Carmot, Eli Lilly, Intarcia, Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Global Services, Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group—Latin America, MannKind, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Sanofi, Shionogi, Structure Therapeutics, Target Pharma, Valeritas, and Zealand Pharma; and received travel expenses from Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group—Latin America, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Zealand Pharma. KWM has received grants from AHA, Apple, Bayer, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, CSL Behring, Eidos, Ferring, Gilead, Google, Idorsia, Johnson & Johnson, Luitpold, Novartis, PAC-12, Precordior, and Sanifit; and consulting fees from Applied Therapeutics, Bayer, BMS, BridgeBio, CSL Behring, Elsevier, Fosun Pharma, Human, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Myokardia, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Otsuka, Phasebio, Portola, Quidel, and Theravance; and holds stock options for Human, Medeloop, Precordior, and Regencor. MCP was supported by the British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Grant RE/18/6/34217; has received research funding from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pharmacosmos, Roche, and SQ Innovations; and served on committees or consulted for AbbVie, Akero, AnaCardio, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Biosensors, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cardiorentis, Corvia, Eli Lilly, Horizon Therapeutics, LIB Therapeutics, Moderna, New Amsterdam, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pharmacosmos, Siemens, SQ Innovations, Takeda, Teikoku, and Vifor. JP has received consulting fees from Altimmune, Amgen, Esperion Therapeutics, Merck, MJH Life Sciences, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk and received a grant, paid to his institution, from Boehringer Ingelheim. CR, SR, and PEW are employees and SR and PEW are shareholders of Novo Nordisk. SJS has received research grants from AstraZeneca, Corvia, and Pfizer; and consulting fees from Abbott, Alleviant, Amgen, Aria CV, AstraZeneca, Axon Therapies, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cyclerion, Cytokinetics, Edwards Lifesciences, Eidos, Imara, Impulse Dynamics, Intellia, Ionis, Lilly, Merck, MyoKardia, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Prothena, ReCor, Regeneron, Rivus, Sardocor, Shifamed, Tenax, Tenaya, and Ultromics. SV reports speaking honoraria or consulting fees from Abbott, Amarin, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group, Eli Lilly, HLS Therapeutics, Janssen, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, PhaseBio, and TIMI. AML has received research grants from AbbVie, AstraZeneca, CSL Behring, Eli Lilly, Esperion Therapeutics, and Novartis, paid to his institution; and consulting fees from Akebia Therapeutics, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Ardelyx, Eli Lilly, FibroGen, GlaxoSmithKline, Intarcia, Medtronic Vascular, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Provention Bio, Amgen, and ReCor Medical. All other authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.)

Background: Semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, reduces the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in people with overweight or obesity, but the effects of this drug on outcomes in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and heart failure are unknown. We report a prespecified analysis of the effect of once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide 2·4 mg on ischaemic and heart failure cardiovascular outcomes. We aimed to investigate if semaglutide was beneficial in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with a history of heart failure compared with placebo; if there was a difference in outcome in patients designated as having heart failure with preserved ejection fraction compared with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction; and if the efficacy and safety of semaglutide in patients with heart failure was related to baseline characteristics or subtype of heart failure., Methods: The SELECT trial was a randomised, double-blind, multicentre, placebo-controlled, event-driven phase 3 trial in 41 countries. Adults aged 45 years and older, with a BMI of 27 kg/m 2 or greater and established cardiovascular disease were eligible for the study. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) with a block size of four using an interactive web response system in a double-blind manner to escalating doses of once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide over 16 weeks to a target dose of 2·4 mg, or placebo. In a prespecified analysis, we examined the effect of semaglutide compared with placebo in patients with and without a history of heart failure at enrolment, subclassified as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, or unclassified heart failure. Endpoints comprised MACE (a composite of non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, and cardiovascular death); a composite heart failure outcome (cardiovascular death or hospitalisation or urgent hospital visit for heart failure); cardiovascular death; and all-cause death. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03574597., Findings: Between Oct 31, 2018, and March 31, 2021, 17 604 patients with a mean age of 61·6 years (SD 8·9) and a mean BMI of 33·4 kg/m 2 (5·0) were randomly assigned to receive semaglutide (8803 [50·0%] patients) or placebo (8801 [50·0%] patients). 4286 (24·3%) of 17 604 patients had a history of investigator-defined heart failure at enrolment: 2273 (53·0%) of 4286 patients had heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, 1347 (31·4%) had heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, and 666 (15·5%) had unclassified heart failure. Baseline characteristics were similar between patients with and without heart failure. Patients with heart failure had a higher incidence of clinical events. Semaglutide improved all outcome measures in patients with heart failure at random assignment compared with those without heart failure (hazard ratio [HR] 0·72, 95% CI 0·60-0·87 for MACE; 0·79, 0·64-0·98 for the heart failure composite endpoint; 0·76, 0·59-0·97 for cardiovascular death; and 0·81, 0·66-1·00 for all-cause death; all p interaction >0·19). Treatment with semaglutide resulted in improved outcomes in both the heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HR 0·65, 95% CI 0·49-0·87 for MACE; 0·79, 0·58-1·08 for the composite heart failure endpoint) and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction groups (0·69, 0·51-0·91 for MACE; 0·75, 0·52-1·07 for the composite heart failure endpoint), although patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction had higher absolute event rates than those with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. For MACE and the heart failure composite, there were no significant differences in benefits across baseline age, sex, BMI, New York Heart Association status, and diuretic use. Serious adverse events were less frequent with semaglutide versus placebo, regardless of heart failure subtype., Interpretation: In patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular diease and overweight or obesity, treatment with semaglutide 2·4 mg reduced MACE and composite heart failure endpoints compared with placebo in those with and without clinical heart failure, regardless of heart failure subtype. Our findings could facilitate prescribing and result in improved clinical outcomes for this patient group., Funding: Novo Nordisk., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests JD declares having received consulting honoraria from Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck, Pfizer, Aegerion, Novartis, Sanofi, Takeda, Novo Nordisk, and Bayer, and research grants from British Heart Foundation, Medical Research Council (UK), National Institute for Health and Care Research, Public Health England, MSD, Pfizer, Aegerion, Colgate, and Roche. BMS declares having received institutional research grants to Brigham and Women's Hospital from Better Therapeutics, Merck, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer, and consulting fees from Allergan, Boehringer Ingelheim, Better Therapeutics, Elsevier PracticeUpdate Cardiology, Esperion, Hanmi, Lexicon, Novo Nordisk, and equity in health at Scale and Doximity. SV reports speaking honoraria or consulting fees from Abbott, Amarin, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group, Eli Lilly, HLS Therapeutics, Janssen, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, PhaseBio, and TIMI. DR declares having received consulting honoraria from Altimmune, Amgen, Biohaven, Boehringer Ingelheim, Calibrate, Carmot Therapeutics, CinRx, Eli Lilly, Epitomee, Gila Therapeutics, Ifa Celtic, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Rhythm, Scientific Intake, Wondr Health, and Zealand. DR also declares having received stock options from Calibrate, Epitomee, Scientific Intake, and Xeno Bioscience. IL declares having received research funding (paid to institution) from Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, Mylan, and Boehringer Ingelheim. IL received advisory or consulting fees or other support from Altimmune, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Biomea, Boehringer Ingelheim, Carmot, Cytoki Pharma, Eli Lilly, Intercept, Janssen/Johnson & Johnson, Mannkind, Mediflix, Merck, Metsera, Novo Nordisk, Pharmaventures, Pfizer, Regeneron, Sanofi, Shionogi, Structure Therapeutics, Target RWE, Terns Pharma, The Comm Group, Valeritas, WebMD, and Zealand Pharma. HMC declares being a stockholder and serving on an advisory panel for Bayer; receiving research grants from Chief Scientist Office, Diabetes UK, European Commission, IQVIA, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and Medical Research Council; serving on an advisory board and speakers bureau for Novo Nordisk; and holding stock in Roche Pharmaceuticals. SEK declares having received consulting honoraria from Anii Pharmaceuticals, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Merck, Novo Nordisk, and Oramed and stock options from Altpep. JP declares having received consulting honoraria from Altimmune, Amgen, Esperion Therapeutics, Merck, MJH Life Sciences, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk; he has received a grant, paid to his institution, from Boehringer Ingelheim, and holds the position of Director, Preventive Cardiology, at Brigham and Women's Hospital. MNK declares having served as a consultant or on an advisory board for 35Pharma, Alnylam, Amgen, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Dexcom, Eli Lilly, Esperion Therapeutics, Imbria Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Merck (Diabetes and Cardiovascular), Novo Nordisk, Pharmacosmos, Pfizer, Sanofi, scPharmaceuticals, Structure Therapeutics, Vifor Pharma, and Youngene Therapeutics; has received research grants from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Pfizer; holds stocks in Artera Health and Saghmos Therapeutics; and has received honoraria from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novo Nordisk. MNK has also received other research support from AstraZeneca. SSE declares having received consulting honoraria from Amylyx, AstraZeneca, Avillion, Ayala, Bayer, BeiGene, Boehringer Ingelheim, 89 Bio, BioAge, BioAtla, Bristol Myers Squibb, BridgeBio, Daiichi Sankyo, Denovo, Fore Therapeutics, GlaxoSmithKline, Inovio, Insmed, Ipsen, Karuna, Lilly, Lundbeck, Mirati, Moderna, Novartis, Novavax, Novo Nordisk, National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project, Pfizer, Principia, Reata, Rebiotx, Roche, Sanofi, Solvd, Sutro Biopharma, and TG Therapeutics. AG declares having received honoraria from Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Bayer. CCL declares having received consulting and research honoraria from Amarin, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Moderna, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Roche Diagnostics. MU-T declares having received consulting and research honoraria from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Frosst Laboratories, Johnson and Johnson, Menarini, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Procaps, Sanofi-Aventis, Servier, and Tecnofarma. MP declares having received honoraria from Novo Nordisk. AML declares having received honoraria from Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Akebia, Amgen, Ardelyx, Becton Dickson, Endologix, Fibrogen, GlaxoSmithkline, Medtronic, Neovasc, Provention Bio, ReCor, Brainstorm Cell, Alnylam, and Intarcia for consulting activities and research funding to his institution from AbbVie, Esperion, AstraZeneca, CSL Behring, Novartis, and Eli Lilly. All other authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To determine whether semaglutide slows progression of glycemia in people with cardiovascular disease and overweight or obesity but without diabetes., Research Design and Methods: In a multicenter, double-blind trial, participants aged ≥45 years, with BMI ≥27 kg/m2, and with preexisting cardiovascular disease but without diabetes (HbA1c <6.5%) were randomized to receive subcutaneous semaglutide (2.4 mg weekly) or placebo. Major glycemic outcomes were HbA1c and proportions achieving biochemical normoglycemia (HbA1c <5.7%) and progressing to biochemical diabetes (HbA1c ≥6.5%)., Results: Of 17,604 participants, 8,803 were assigned to semaglutide and 8,801 to placebo. Mean ± SD intervention exposure was 152 ± 56 weeks and follow-up 176 ± 40 weeks. In both treatment arms mean nadir HbA1c for participants was at 20 weeks. Thereafter, HbA1c increased similarly in both arms, with a mean difference of -0.32 percentage points (95% CI -0.33 to -0.30; -3.49 mmol/mol [-3.66 to -3.32]) and with the difference favoring semaglutide throughout the study (P < 0.0001). Body weight plateaued at 65 weeks and was 8.9% lower with semaglutide. At week 156, a greater proportion treated with semaglutide were normoglycemic (69.5% vs. 35.8%; P < 0.0001) and a smaller proportion had biochemical diabetes by week 156 (1.5% vs. 6.9%; P < 0.0001). The number needed to treat was 18.5 to prevent a case of diabetes. Both regression and progression were dependent on glycemia at baseline, with the magnitude of weight reduction important in mediating 24.5% of progression and 27.1% of regression., Conclusions: In people with preexisting cardiovascular disease and overweight or obesity but without diabetes, long-term semaglutide increases regression to biochemical normoglycemia and reduces progression to biochemical diabetes but does not slow glycemic progression over time., (© 2024 by the American Diabetes Association.)

Objective: To evaluate the cardiovascular effects of semaglutide by baseline glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and change in HbA1c in a prespecified analysis of Semaglutide Effects on Cardiovascular Outcomes in People With Overweight or Obesity (SELECT)., Research Design and Methods: In SELECT, people with overweight or obesity and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease without diabetes were randomized to weekly semaglutide 2.4 mg or placebo. The primary end point of first major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) (cardiovascular mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or stroke) was reduced by 20% with semaglutide versus placebo. Analysis of outcomes included first MACE, its individual components, expanded MACE (cardiovascular mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or stroke; coronary revascularization; or hospitalization for unstable angina), a heart failure composite (heart failure hospitalization or urgent medical visit or cardiovascular mortality), coronary revascularization, and all-cause mortality by baseline HbA1c subgroup and categories of HbA1c change (<-0.3, -0.3 to 0.3, and >0.3 percentage points) from baseline to 20 weeks using the intention-to-treat principle with Cox proportional hazards., Results: Among 17,604 participants (mean age 61.6 years, 72.3% male), baseline HbA1c was <5.7% for 33.5%, 5.7% to <6.0% for 34.6%, and 6.0% to <6.5% for 31.9%. Cardiovascular risk reduction with semaglutide versus placebo was not shown to be different across baseline HbA1c groups and was consistent with that of the overall study for all end points, except all-cause mortality. Cardiovascular outcomes were also consistent across subgroups of HbA1c change., Conclusions: In people with overweight or obesity and established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease but not diabetes, semaglutide reduced cardiovascular events irrespective of baseline HbA1c or change in HbA1c. Thus, semaglutide is expected to confer cardiovascular benefits in people with established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease who are normoglycemic at baseline and/or in those without HbA1c improvements., (© 2024 by the American Diabetes Association.)

Background: Elevated interleukin (IL)-6 levels have been linked to adverse outcomes in patients with and without baseline cardiovascular disease (CVD)., Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between circulating IL-6 levels and CVD events without baseline CVD across racial and ethnic groups., Methods: We conducted an observational analysis utilizing the MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis), a multicenter, prospective community-based study of CVD at baseline from four racial and ethnic groups. IL-6 levels were measured at the time of enrollment (visit 1) and were divided into 3 terciles. Patient baseline characteristics and outcomes, including all-cause mortality, CV mortality, heart failure, and non-CV mortality, were included. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to assess associations between IL-6 levels and study outcomes with IL-6 tercile 1 as reference., Results: Of 6,622 individuals, over half were women (53%) with a median age of 62 (IQR: 53-70) years. Racial and ethnic composition was non-Hispanic White (39%) followed by African American (27%), Hispanic (22%), and Chinese American (12%). Compared to tercile 1, participants with IL-6 tercile 3 had a higher adjusted risk of and all-cause mortality (HR: 1.98 [95% CI: 1.67-2.36]), CV mortality (HR: 1.55 [95% CI: 1.05-2.30]), non-CV mortality (HR: 2.05 [95% CI: 1.65-2.56]), and heart failure (HR: 1.48 [95% CI: 0.99-2.19]). When tested as a continuous variable, higher levels of IL-6 were associated with an increased risk of all individual outcomes. Compared to non-Hispanic White participants, the unadjusted and adjusted risk of all outcomes across all races and ethnicities was similar across all IL-6 terciles., Conclusions: High levels of circulating IL-6 are associated with worse CV outcomes and increased all-cause mortality consistently across all racial and ethnic groups., Competing Interests: Dr Rymer has received research grant support from 10.13039/100007560Chiesi Pharmaceuticals, 10.13039/501100016198Idorsia Pharmaceuticals, and the 10.13039/100000968American Heart Association; and personal fees from Chiesi Pharmaceuticals outside the submitted work. Dr Borlaug has received research support from the 10.13039/100000002National Institutes of Health (R01 HL128526, R01 HL162828, and U01 HL160226) and the 10.13039/100000005United States Department of Defense (W81XWH2210245); has received research grant funding from 10.13039/100004325AstraZeneca, Axon, 10.13039/100004330GlaxoSmithKline, 10.13039/100004374Medtronic, Mesoblast, 10.13039/100015758Novo Nordisk, and 10.13039/100016949Tenax Therapeutics; has served as a consultant for Actelion, Amgen, Aria, BD, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Edwards Lifesciences, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Merck, and Novo Nordisk; and is a named inventor (US Patent no. 10307179) for the tools and approach for a minimally invasive pericardial modification procedure to treat heart failure. Dr Cikes has received research grants and clinical study contracts to institution from 10.13039/100004336Novartis, 10.13039/100000046Abbott, 10.13039/100004319Pfizer, and CorVia; and personal fees and nonfinancial support from 10.13039/100004319Pfizer, 10.13039/100004326Bayer, 10.13039/100001003Boehringer Ingelheim, 10.13039/100004325AstraZeneca, 10.13039/100004336Novartis, Swixx, 10.13039/100020297Abiomed, 10.13039/100015362Amicus, 10.13039/100002429Amgen, 10.13039/100015758Novo Nordisk, 10.13039/100004374Medtronic, 10.13039/100006775GE Healthcare, 10.13039/100006259Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, and Krka Pharma. Dr Docherty reports that his employer, the University of Glasgow, has been remunerated by AstraZeneca for work relating to clinical trials; he has received speaker honoraria from AstraZeneca, Pharmacosmos, and Radcliffe Cardiology; has served on an advisory board for Us2.ai and Bayer AG; has served on a clinical end point committee for Bayer AG; and has received grant support from 10.13039/100001003Boehringer Ingelheim, 10.13039/100016545Roche Diagnostics, and 10.13039/100004325AstraZeneca (paid to his institution). Dr Pandey is supported by the Texas Health Resources Clinical Scholarship, the 10.13039/100005564Gilead Sciences Research Scholars Program, the 10.13039/100000049National Institute on Aging GEMSSTAR Grant (1R03AG067960-01) and Applied Therapeutics; has served on the advisory board for Roche Diagnostics; and has received nonfinancial support from 10.13039/100004319Pfizer and 10.13039/100004334Merck. Dr Kahles has served as a consultant to Bayer and Novo Nordisk and has served as a speaker for Novo Nordisk. Dr Lam is supported by a Clinician Scientist Award from the 10.13039/501100001349National Medical Research Council of Singapore; has received research support from 10.13039/100004326Bayer and 10.13039/100016545Roche Diagnostics; has served as consultant or on the Advisory Board, Steering Committee, or Executive Committee for Actelion, Alleviant Medical, Allysta Pharma, Amgen, AnaCardio AB, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Cytokinetics, Darma Inc, EchoNous Inc, Eli Lilly, Impulse Dynamics, Ionis Pharmaceutical, Janssen Research & Development LLC, Medscape/WebMD Global LLC, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Prosciento Inc, Radcliffe Group Ltd, Roche Diagnostics, Sanofi, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics and Us2.ai; and has served as cofounder and non–executive director of Us2.ai. The employer of AAV has received consultancy fees and research support from AnaCardio, 10.13039/100004325AstraZeneca, 10.13039/100002491BMS, 10.13039/100004326Bayer, 10.13039/100001003Boehringer Ingelheim, Corteria, EliLilly, 10.13039/100004334Merck, 10.13039/100019533Moderna, 10.13039/100004336Novartis, 10.13039/100015758Novo Nordisk, 10.13039/100016545Roche Diagnostics. Dr Hernandez has received grants from Intellia Therapeutics; compensation from Prolaio for consultant services; grants from 10.13039/100004326Bayer; compensation from Eli Lilly and Company for consultant services; compensation from Novo Nordisk for consultant services; employment by Duke Clinical Research Institute; compensation from Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc, for data and safety monitoring services; grants from 10.13039/100001003Boehringer Ingelheim; compensation from CSL Behring for consultant services; compensation from Boehringer Ingelheim for consultant services; compensation from Amgen for consultant services; compensation from Novartis for consultant services; grants from 10.13039/100018044Verily; compensation from Merck for consultant services; grants from 10.13039/100016473American Regent; compensation from AstraZeneca for consultant services; compensation from Eidos for data and safety monitoring services; compensation from Cytokinetics for consultant services; grants from 10.13039/100015758Novo Nordisk Inc, 10.13039/100004336Novartis, AstraZeneca, and 10.13039/100001238Merck; compensation from Bayer for consultant services; and compensation from Boston Scientific Corporation and Intellia Therapeutics for consultant services. Dr Lincoff has received Esperion research funding for this trial; grants from Eli Lilly, 10.13039/100006483AbbVie, 10.13039/100008322CSL, 10.13039/100004325AstraZeneca, and 10.13039/100004336Novartis; and personal fees from Novo Nordisk, Glaxo, Akebia, Endologix, Fibrogen, Provention, and Becton Dickson. Dr Petrie has received grants from 10.13039/100001003Boehringer Ingelheim, 10.13039/100004337Roche, SQ Innovations, Astra Zeneca, 10.13039/100004336Novartis, 10.13039/100015758Novo Nordisk, 10.13039/100004374Medtronic, 10.13039/100008497Boston Scientific, Horizon, Pharmacosmos; consulting fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, Abbvie, Bayer, Takeda, Corvia, Cardiorentis, Pharmacosmos, Siemens, and Vifor; lecture fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Astra Zeneca, Novo Nordisk, Abbvie, Bayer, Takeda, Corvia, Cardiorentis, Pharmacosmos, Siemens, and Vifor; board participation for Teikoku and Astra Zeneca; and is the Director of Global Clinical Trial Partners Ltd. Dr Ridker has received institutional research grant support from the 10.13039/100000050NHLBI, 10.13039/100004336Novartis, and 10.13039/100015758Novo Nordisk (to evaluate the role of anti-inflammatory agents including methotrexate, interleukin-1 inhibitors, and interleukin-6 inhibitors) as well as Kowa, Amarin, Pfizer, and Esperion; has served as a consultant to Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Janssen, Flame, Agepha, Ardelyx, Zomagen, Horizon Therapeutics, CSL Behring, and Cardio Therapeutics (entities developing anti-inflammatory therapies including as examples colchicine, interleukin-1 inhibitors, interleukin-6 inhibitors, and agents that potentially target or interact with the NLRP3 inflammasome); has additionally served as a consultant to AstraZeneca, Civi Biopharm, Glaxo Smith Kline, SOCAR, Health Outlook, Montai Health, Eli Lilly, New Amsterdam, Boehringer-Ingelheim, RTI, and Cytokinetics; has minority shareholder equity positions in Uppton, Bitteroot Bio, and Angiowave; and has received compensation for service on the Peter Munk Advisory Board (University of Toronto), the Leducq Foundation, Paris FR, and the Baim Institute (Boston, MA). Dr Fudim was supported by the 10.13039/100000968American Heart Association (20IPA35310955), Doris Duke, 10.13039/100004326Bayer, Bodyport and Verily; has received consulting fees from Abbott, Ajax, Alio Health, Alleviant, Audicor, Axon Therapies, Bayer, BodyGuide, Bodyport, Boston Scientific, Broadview, Cadence, Cardionomics, Coridea, CVRx, Daxor, Deerfield Catalyst, Edwards Lifesciences, EKO, Feldschuh Foundation, FIRE1, Gradient, Hatteras, Impulse Dynamics, InterShunt, Medtronic, NI Medical, NXT Biomedical, Pharmacosmos, PreHealth, ReCor, Shifamed, Splendo, Summacor, SyMap, Verily, Vironix, VisCardia and Zoll outside the submitted work. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Background: In the CLEAR (Cholesterol Lowering via Bempedoic Acid, an ACL-Inhibiting Regimen) Outcomes trial, treatment of statin-intolerant patients with bempedoic acid produced a 21% decrease in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) relative to placebo and a 13% relative reduction in the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events., Objectives: This study sought to determine whether the relationship between LDL-C lowering and cardiovascular benefit achieved with bempedoic acid resembles that observed with statins when standardized per unit change in LDL-C., Methods: To compare the treatment effect of bempedoic acid with statins, the methodology of the Cholesterol Treatment Trialists' Collaboration (CTTC) was applied to outcomes among the 13,970 patients enrolled in the CLEAR Outcomes trial. The CTTC endpoint of "major vascular event" was a composite of coronary heart disease death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, fatal or nonfatal stroke, or coronary revascularization. HRs for CTTC-defined endpoints were normalized to 1 mmol/L differences in LDL-C levels between bempedoic acid and placebo groups., Results: A first major vascular event occurred in 703 (10.1%) patients in the bempedoic acid group and 816 (11.7%) patients in the placebo group (HR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.77-0.94). When normalized per 1 mmol/L reduction in LDL-C, the HR was 0.75 (95% CI: 0.63-0.90), comparable to the rate ratio of 0.78 reported for statins in the CTTC meta-analysis. Normalized risk reductions were similar for bempedoic acid and statins for the endpoints of major coronary events, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and coronary revascularization., Conclusions: Cardiovascular risk reduction with bempedoic acid is similar to that achieved with statins for a given absolute magnitude of LDL-C lowering. (Evaluation of Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events in Participants With, or at High Risk for, Cardiovascular Disease Who Are Statin Intolerant Treated with Bempedoic Acid [ETC-1002] or Placebo [CLEAR Outcomes]; NCT02993406)., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures This work was funded by Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. The trial was designed by the sponsor, Esperion Therapeutics, in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic Coordinating Center for Clinical Research (C5Research) and an academic Executive Committee. At the completion of the trial, the database was transferred to C5Research. Statisticians at Esperion conducted data analyses for this paper. Dr Lincoff wrote the first draft and all subsequent drafts of the paper, which was reviewed and approved by all authors. The sponsor reviewed the paper and provided suggested revisions, but the final decision on content was reserved for the academic authors. Dr Lincoff has received research funding for this trial from Esperion; has received grants from Eli Lilly, AbbVie, CSL, AstraZeneca, and Novartis; has received personal fees from Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Akebia, Alnylam, Amgen, Ardelyx, Becton-Dickson, Brainstorm Cell, Cadrenal, Endologix, Fibrogen, GlaxoSmithKline, Intarcia, Medtronic, Neovasc, Provention Bio, and ReCor; and has received travel support for attending steering committee meetings from Novo Nordisk, Esperion, and Eli Lilly. Dr Ray has received unrestricted research grants (in the last 3 years) to Imperial College London from Amgen, Sanofi, Regeneron, Daiichi-Sankyo, and Ultragenix; has received consulting fees for serving as a member of the steering committee and executive committee of clinical trials and roles as principal investigator and national lead investigator from Novartis, Daiichi-Sankyo, Kowa, Esperion, Novo Nordisk, MSD, Lilly, Silence Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, New Amsterdam Pharma, Bayer, Beren Therapeutics, Cleerly, EmendoBio, Scribe, CRISPR, Vaxxinity, Amarin, Regeneron, Ultragenix, Cargene, and Resverlogix; has served on advisory boards, providing advice on data, its interpretation, and future lines of research; has received lecture fees for Continuing Medical Education and non–Continuing Medical Education symposia at international meetings from Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, Viatris, Amarin, Biologix Pharma, Sanofi, Amgen, Esperion, Daiichi-Sankyo, and Macleod Pharma; owns stock options in New Amsterdam Pharma and PEMI31; and has served as European Atherosclerosis Society President (unpaid). Dr Sasiela was an employee of, has served as a paid consultant for, and owns stock in Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. Dr Nicholls has received research support from AstraZeneca, Amgen, Anthera, CSL Behring, Cerenis, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Resverlogix, Novartis, InfraReDx, and Sanofi-Regeneron; and has served as a consultant for Amgen, Akcea, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSL Behring, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Kowa, Merck, Takeda, Pfizer, Sanofi-Regeneron, Novo Nordisk, CSL Sequiris, and Vaxxinity. Dr Li is an employee of Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. Dr Cho has served on the steering committee for the CLEAR Outcomes trial. Dr Libby has served as an unpaid consultant for Amgen, AstraZeneca, Baim Institute, Beren Therapeutics, Kancera, Kowa Pharmaceuticals, Medimmune, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi-Regeneron, Cartesian, Esperion, Genentech, and Moderna; has served as an unpaid scientific advisory board member for the Baim Institute, Medimmune, Dewpoint, Pfizer, DalCor Pharmaceuticals, Olatec Therapeutics, XBiotech Inc, Caristo, CSL Behring, PlaqueTech, TenSixteen Bio, Soley Therapeutics, and Elucid Bioimaging; has received laboratory funding from Pfizer and CSL Behring; holds patents pending for use of canakinumab and for treatment for brain ischemia-reperfusion injury; has served as an unpaid consultant or been involved in clinical trials for Amgen, AstraZeneca, the Baim Institute, Beren Therapeutics, Esperion Therapeutics, Genentech, Kancera, Kowa Pharmaceuticals, Medimmune, Merck, Moderna, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Pfizer, and Sanofi-Regeneron; has served on the scientific advisory board for Amgen, Caristo Diagnostics, Cartesian Therapeutics, CSL Behring, DalCor Pharmaceuticals, Dewpoint Therapeutics, Eulicid Bioimaging, Kancera, Kowa Pharmaceuticals, Olatec Therapeutics, Medimmune, Novartis, PlaqueTec, TenSixteen Bio, Soley Therapeutics, and XBiotech Inc; has received research funding to his laboratory in the last 2 years from Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Genentech; has served on the board of directors for XBiotech Inc; has held a financial interest in Xbiotech (a company developing therapeutic human antibodies), TenSixteen Bio (a company targeting somatic mosaicism and clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential to discover and develop novel therapeutics to treat age-related diseases), and Soley Therapeutics (a biotechnology company combining artificial intelligence with molecular and cellular response detection for discovering and developing new drugs, currently focusing on cancer therapeutics); and has had his interests reviewed and managed by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Mass General Brigham in accordance with their conflict-of-interest policies. Dr Goodman has received research grant support (eg, steering committee or data and safety monitoring committee) and/or speaker/consulting honoraria (eg, advisory boards) from Amgen, Anthos Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, CYTE Ltd., Daiichi-Sankyo/American Regent, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, HLS Therapeutics, Idorsia, JAMP Pharma, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk A/C, Pendopharm/Pharmascience, Pfizer, Regeneron, Sanofi, Servier, Tolmar Pharmaceuticals, Valeo Pharma; and has received salary support/honoraria from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario/University of Toronto (Polo) Chair, Canadian Heart Failure Society, Canadian Heart Research Centre and MD Primer, Canadian VIGOUR Centre, Cleveland Clinic Coordinating Centre for Clinical Research, Duke Clinical Research Institute, New York University Clinical Coordinating Centre, PERFUSE Research Institute, and TIMI Study Group (Brigham Health). Dr Nissen has received grant support from Esperion for the CLEAR Outcomes Trial; and the Cleveland Clinic Center for Clinical Research has received funding to perform clinical trials from AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Arrowhead, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Medtronic, MyoKardia, New Amsterdam Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, and Silence Therapeutics, in which Dr Nissen is involved in these clinical trials but receives no personal remuneration for his participation. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The SELECT trial previously reported a 20% reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events with semaglutide (n = 8,803) versus placebo (n = 8,801) in patients with overweight/obesity and established cardiovascular disease, without diabetes. In the present study, we examined the effect of once-weekly semaglutide 2.4 mg on kidney outcomes in the SELECT trial. The incidence of the pre-specified main composite kidney endpoint (death from kidney disease, initiation of chronic kidney replacement therapy, onset of persistent estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 15 ml min -1  1.73 m - 2 , persistent ≥50% reduction in eGFR or onset of persistent macroalbuminuria) was lower with semaglutide (1.8%) versus placebo (2.2%): hazard ratio (HR) = 0.78; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.63, 0.96; P = 0.02. The treatment benefit at 104 weeks for eGFR was 0.75 ml min -1  1.73 m - 2 (95% CI 0.43, 1.06; P < 0.001) overall and 2.19 ml min -1  1.73 m - 2 (95% CI 1.00, 3.38; P < 0.001) in patients with baseline eGFR <60 ml min -1  1.73 m - 2 . These results suggest a benefit of semaglutide on kidney outcomes in individuals with overweight/obesity, without diabetes.ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03574597 ., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

In the SELECT cardiovascular outcomes trial, semaglutide showed a 20% reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events in 17,604 adults with preexisting cardiovascular disease, overweight or obesity, without diabetes. Here in this prespecified analysis, we examined effects of semaglutide on weight and anthropometric outcomes, safety and tolerability by baseline body mass index (BMI). In patients treated with semaglutide, weight loss continued over 65 weeks and was sustained for up to 4 years. At 208 weeks, semaglutide was associated with mean reduction in weight (-10.2%), waist circumference (-7.7 cm) and waist-to-height ratio (-6.9%) versus placebo (-1.5%, -1.3 cm and -1.0%, respectively; P < 0.0001 for all comparisons versus placebo). Clinically meaningful weight loss occurred in both sexes and all races, body sizes and regions. Semaglutide was associated with fewer serious adverse events. For each BMI category (<30, 30 to <35, 35 to <40 and ≥40 kg m - 2 ) there were lower rates (events per 100 years of observation) of serious adverse events with semaglutide (43.23, 43.54, 51.07 and 47.06 for semaglutide and 50.48, 49.66, 52.73 and 60.85 for placebo). Semaglutide was associated with increased rates of trial product discontinuation. Discontinuations increased as BMI class decreased. In SELECT, at 208 weeks, semaglutide produced clinically significant weight loss and improvements in anthropometric measurements versus placebo. Weight loss was sustained over 4 years. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03574597 ., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Context: The effect of testosterone on depressive symptoms in men with hypogonadism remains incompletely understood., Objective: We assessed the effects of testosterone-replacement therapy (TRT) in improving depressive symptoms in hypogonadal men with and without depressive symptoms enrolled in the TRAVERSE cardiovascular safety trial., Methods: A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study was conducted at 316 trial sites. Participants included men, aged 45 to 80 years, with 2 fasting testosterone levels less than 300 ng/dL, 1 or more hypogonadal symptoms, cardiovascular disease (CVD), or increased risk of CVD. We evaluated 3 subgroups of participants: (1) men with rigorously defined, late-life-onset, low-grade persistent depressive disorder (LG-PDD, previously "dysthymia"); (2) all men with significant depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Score >4); and (3) all randomly assigned men. Intervention included 1.62% transdermal testosterone or placebo gel. Outcome measures included the proportions of participants (1) meeting criteria for LG-PDD or (2) with significant depressive symptoms; and changes in depressive symptoms, energy, sleep quality, and cognition in testosterone-treated vs placebo-treated men in the 3 subgroups., Results: Of 5204 randomly assigned participants, 2643 (50.8%) had significant depressive symptoms, but only 49 (1.5%) met rigorous criteria for LG-PDD. Among those with LG-PDD, there was no significant difference in any outcome measure between the TRT and placebo groups, possibly reflecting low statistical power. In men with significant depressive symptoms (n = 2643) and in all randomly assigned participants (n = 5204), TRT was associated with modest but significantly greater improvements in mood and energy but not cognition or sleep quality., Conclusion: Depressive symptoms are common in middle-aged and older men with hypogonadism but LG-PDD is uncommon. TRT is associated with small improvements in mood and energy in hypogonadal men with and without significant depressive symptoms., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Endocrine Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: The AEGIS-II trial hypothesized that CSL112, an intravenous formulation of human apoA-I, would lower the risk of plaque disruption, decreasing the risk of recurrent events such as myocardial infarction (MI) among high-risk patients with MI., Objectives: This exploratory analysis evaluates the effect of CSL112 therapy on the incidence of cardiovascular (CV) death and recurrent MI., Methods: The AEGIS-II trial was an international, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial that randomized 18,219 high-risk acute MI patients to 4 weekly infusions of apoA-I (6 g CSL112) or placebo., Results: The incidence of the composite of CV death and type 1 MI was 11% to 16% lower in the CSL112 group over the study period (HR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.7-1.0; P = 0.056 at day 90; HR: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.74-0.99; P = 0.048 at day 180; and HR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.79-1.01; P = 0.07 at day 365). Similarly, the incidence of CV death or any MI was numerically lower in CSL112-treated patients throughout the follow-up period (HR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.80-1.05 at day 90, HR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.79-0.996 at day 180, HR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.83-1.01 at day 365). The effect of CSL112 treatment on MI was predominantly observed for type 1 MI and type 4b (MI due to stent thrombosis)., Conclusions: Although CSL112 did not significantly reduce the occurrence of the primary study endpoints, patients treated with CSL112 infusions had numerically lower rates of CV death and MI, type-1 MI, and stent thrombosis-related MI compared with placebo. These findings could suggest a role of apoA-I in reducing subsequent plaque disruption events via enhanced cholesterol efflux. Further prospective data would be needed to confirm these observations., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures This study was funded by CSL Behring. Dr Povsic has received research funding paid to his institution from CSL Behring; has received research funding from Xylocor Inc, Ionis, Bayer, Roche, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and has received consulting income from Novo Nordisk, Corvia, and Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr Korjian has received research grant support paid to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School from CSL Behring. Dr Bahit has received modest honorarium from MSD, Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, Janssen, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Anthos Therapeutics. Dr Chi has received research grant support paid to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School from Bayer, Janssen Scientific Affairs, and CSL Behring. Dr Duffy is an employee of CSL Behring. Dr Alexander has received research grants from Artivion/CryoLife, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, Ferring, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Humacyte, and the NIH; and has received advisory board/consulting payments from AbbVie, Artivion/CryoLife, AtriCure, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Ferring, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Novostia, Pfizer, Portola, Theravance, and Veralox. Dr Vinereanu has received research grants from CSL Behring, Bayer, Novartis, Amgen, and Boehringer Ingelheim; and has received consultancy fees from Bayer, Novartis, Amgen, and Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr Tricoci, Ms Mears, and Dr Deckelbaum are employees of CSL Behring. Dr Bonaca is the Executive Director of CPC, a nonprofit academic research organization affiliated with the University of Colorado, that receives or has received research grant/consulting funding between August 2021 and the present from Abbott Laboratories, Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Alexion Pharma, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Amgen Inc, Angionetics, Inc, Anthos Therapeutics, ARCA Biopharma, Inc, Array BioPharma, Inc, AstraZeneca and Affiliates, Atentiv LLC, Audentes Therapeutics, Inc, Bayer and Affiliates, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Better Therapeutics, Inc, Boston Clinical Research Institute, Bristol Myers Squibb Company, Cambrian Biopharma, Inc, Cardiol Therapeutics Inc, CellResearch Corp, Cleerly Inc, Cook Regentec LLC, CSL Behring LLC, Eidos Therapeutics, Inc, EP Trading Co Ltd, EPG Communication Holdings Ltd, Epizon Pharma, Inc, Esperion Therapeutics, Inc, Everly Well, Inc, Exicon Consulting Pvt Ltd, Faraday Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Foresee Pharmaceuticals Co Ltd, Fortress Biotech, Inc, HDL Therapeutics Inc, HeartFlow Inc, Hummingbird Bioscience, Insmed Inc, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, IQVIA Inc, Janssen and Affiliates, Kowa Research Institute, Inc, Kyushu University, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Medimmune Ltd, Medpace, Merck & Affiliates, Nectero Medical Inc, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp, Novo Nordisk, Inc, Osiris Therapeutics Inc, Pfizer Inc, PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc, PPD Development, LP, Prairie Education and Research Cooperative, Prothena Biosciences Limited, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Regio Biosciences, Inc, Saint Luke’s Hospital of Kansas City, Sanifit Therapeutics S.A., Sanofi-Aventis Groupe, Silence Therapeutics PLC, Smith & Nephew plc, Stanford Center for Clinical Research, Stealth BioTherapeutics Inc, State of Colorado CCPD Grant, The Brigham & Women's Hospital, Inc, The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Thrombosis Research Institute, University of Colorado, University of Pittsburgh, VarmX, Virta Health Corporation, Worldwide Clinical Trials Inc, WraSer, LLC, and Yale Cardiovascular Research Group. Dr Ridker has received institutional research grant support from Kowa, Novartis, Amarin, Pfizer, Esperion, Novo Nordisk, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI); during the past 5 years has served as a consultant to Novartis, Flame, Agepha, Ardelyx, Arrowhead, AstraZeneca, CSL Behring, Janssen, Civi Biopharm, GlaxoSmithKline, SOCAR, Novo Nordisk, Health Outlook, Montai Health, Eli Lilly, New Amsterdam, Boehringer Ingelheim, RTI, Zomagen, Cytokinetics, Horizon Therapeutics, and Cardio Therapeutics; has minority shareholder equity positions in Uppton, Bitteroot Bio, and Angiowave; and has received compensation for service on the Peter Munk Advisory Board (University of Toronto), the Leducq Foundation, Paris FR, and the Baim Institute (Boston, Massachusetts). Dr Goodman has received research grant support (eg, steering committee or data and safety monitoring committee) and/or speaker/consulting honoraria (eg, advisory boards) from Amgen, Anthos Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, CYTE Ltd, Daiichi-Sankyo/American Regent, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, HLS Therapeutics, Idorsia, JAMP Pharma, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk A/C, Pendopharm/Pharmascience, Pfizer, Regeneron, Sanofi, Servier, Tolmar Pharmaceuticals, and Valeo Pharma; and has received salary support/honoraria from the Canadian Heart Failure Society, Canadian Heart Research Centre and MD Primer, Canadian VIGOUR Centre, Cleveland Clinic Coordinating Centre for Clinical Research, Duke Clinical Research Institute, Jewish General Hospital, New York University Clinical Coordinating Centre, PERFUSE Research Institute, Peter Munk Cardiac Centre Clinical Trials and Translation Unit, and TIMI Study Group (Brigham Health). Dr Cornel has served on advisory boards for Amgen and AstraZeneca. Dr Lewis has received consulting fees from Janssen R&D and Idorsia. Prof Parkhomenko has received research grants from CSL Behring, Amgen, Novo Nordisk, and Boehringer Ingelheim; and has received consulting or speaking fees from Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Sanofi, and Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr Lopes has received research grants or contracts from Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Pfizer, and Sanofi-Aventis; has received funding for educational activities or lectures from Pfizer, Daiichi-Sankyo, and Novo Nordisk; and has received funding for consulting or other services from Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Novo Nordisk. Dr Aylward has received research support from CSL and Janssen Advisory Board; and has received honoraria and speaker fees from Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, Amgen, and AstraZeneca. Dr Lincoff has received honoraria for consulting activities from Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Akebia, Ardelyx, Becton Dickson, Endologix, Fibrogen, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Neovasc, Provention Bio, ReCor, Brainstorm Cell, Alnylam, and Intarcia; and has received research funding to his institution from AbbVie, Esperion, AstraZeneca, CSL Behring, Novartis, and Eli Lilly. Dr Heise is an employee of CSL Behring. Dr Sacks has received support from CSL Behring. Dr Nicolau is recipient of a scholarship from National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq) # 303448/2021-0; has received research grants from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, CSL Behring, Daiichi-Sankyo, Dalcor, Esperion, Ionis, Janssen, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Vifor; and has received consulting fees from Libbs. Prof Merkely has received direct personal payment (speaker fees, studies) from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Biotronik, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSL Behring, Daiichi-Sankyo, DUKE Clinical Institute, Medtronic, and Novartis; and has received institutional grants (for the Heart and Vascular Center of Semmelweis University) from Abbott, AstraZeneca, Biotronik, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, Daiichi-Sankyo, DUKE Clinical Institute, Eli Lilly, Medtronic, Novartis, Terumo, and Vifor Pharma. Dr Trebacz has received research support from CSL Behring. Dr Libby is an unpaid consultant to, or involved in clinical trials for Amgen, AstraZeneca, Baim Institute, Beren Therapeutics, Esperion Therapeutics, Genentech, Kancera, Kowa Pharmaceuticals, Medimmune, Merck, Moderna, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Pfizer, and Sanofi-Regeneron; and is a member of the scientific advisory board for Amgen, Caristo Diagnostics, Cartesian Therapeutics, CSL Behring, DalCor Pharmaceuticals, Eulicid Bioimaging, Kancera, Kowa Pharmaceuticals, Olatec Therapeutics, Medimmune, Novartis, PlaqueTec, TenSixteen Bio, Soley Therapeutics, and XBiotech, Inc; has received research funding to his laboratory in the past 2 years from Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Genentech; is on the Board of Directors of XBiotech, Inc; has a financial interest in XBiotech, a company developing therapeutic human antibodies, in TenSixteen Bio, a company targeting somatic mosaicism and clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential to discover and develop novel therapeutics to treat age-related diseases, and in Soley Therapeutics, a biotechnology company that is combining artificial intelligence with molecular and cellular response detection for discovering and developing new drugs, currently focusing on cancer therapeutics; and has received funding support from the NHLBI (1R01HL134892 and 1R01HL163099-01), the RRM Charitable Fund, and the Simard Fund. Dr Nicholls has received research support from AstraZeneca, Amgen, Anthera, CSL Behring, Cerenis, Cyclarity, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Resverlogix, New Amsterdam Pharma, Novartis, InfraReDx, and Sanofi-Regeneron; and has served as a consultant for Amgen, Akcea, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSL Behring, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Kowa, Merck, Takeda, Pfizer, Sanofi-Regeneron, Vaxxinity, CSL Sequiris, and Novo Nordisk. Dr Pocock has served as a consultant for CSL Behring as a member of executive and publications committees. Dr Bhatt discloses the following relationships: Advisory Board: Angiowave, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, CellProthera, Cereno Scientific, Elsevier Practice Update Cardiology, High Enroll, Janssen, Level Ex, McKinsey, Medscape Cardiology, Merck, MyoKardia, NirvaMed, Novo Nordisk, PhaseBio, PLx Pharma, Stasys; Board of Directors: American Heart Association New York City, Angiowave (stock options), Bristol Myers Squibb (stock), DRS.LINQ (stock options), High Enroll (stock); Consultant: Broadview Ventures, GlaxoSmithKline, Hims, SFJ, Youngene; Data Monitoring Committees: Acesion Pharma, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Baim Institute for Clinical Research (formerly Harvard Clinical Research Institute, for the PORTICO trial, funded by St. Jude Medical, now Abbott), Boston Scientific (Chair, PEITHO trial), Cleveland Clinic, Contego Medical (Chair, PERFORMANCE 2), Duke Clinical Research Institute, Mayo Clinic, Mount Sinai School of Medicine (for the ENVISAGE trial), funded by Daiichi-Sankyo; for the ABILITY-DM trial, funded by Concept Medical; for ALLAY-HF, funded by Alleviant Medical, Novartis, Population Health Research Institute; Rutgers University (for the NIH-funded MINT Trial); Honoraria: American College of Cardiology (Senior Associate Editor, Clinical Trials and News, ACC.org; Chair, ACC Accreditation Oversight Committee), Arnold and Porter law firm (work related to Sanofi/Bristol Myers Squibb clopidogrel litigation), Baim Institute for Clinical Research (formerly Harvard Clinical Research Institute; RE-DUAL PCI clinical trial steering committee funded by Boehringer Ingelheim; AEGIS-II executive committee funded by CSL Behring), Belvoir Publications (Editor in Chief, Harvard Heart Letter), Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group (clinical trial steering committees), CSL Behring (AHA lecture), Cowen and Company, Duke Clinical Research Institute (clinical trial steering committees, including for the PRONOUNCE trial, funded by Ferring Pharmaceuticals), HMP Global (Editor in Chief, Journal of Invasive Cardiology), Journal of the American College of Cardiology (Guest Editor; Associate Editor), K2P (Co-Chair, interdisciplinary curriculum), Level Ex, Medtelligence/ReachMD (CME steering committees), MJH Life Sciences, Oakstone CME (Course Director, Comprehensive Review of Interventional Cardiology), Piper Sandler, Population Health Research Institute (for the COMPASS operations committee, publications committee, steering committee, and USA national co-leader, funded by Bayer), WebMD (CME steering committees), Wiley (steering committee); Other: Clinical Cardiology (Deputy Editor); Patent: Sotagliflozin (named on a patent for sotagliflozin assigned to Brigham & Women's Hospital who assigned to Lexicon; neither I nor Brigham & Women's Hospital receive any income from this patent); research funding: Abbott, Acesion Pharma, Afimmune, Aker Biomarine, Alnylam, Amarin, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Beren, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardax, CellProthera, Cereno Scientific, Chiesi, CinCor, Cleerly, CSL Behring, Eisai, Ethicon, Faraday Pharmaceuticals, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Forest Laboratories, Fractyl, Garmin, HLS Therapeutics, Idorsia, Ironwood, Ischemix, Janssen, Javelin, Lexicon, Lilly, Medtronic, Merck, Moderna, MyoKardia, NirvaMed, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Otsuka, Owkin, Pfizer, PhaseBio, PLx Pharma, Recardio, Regeneron, Reid Hoffman Foundation, Roche, Sanofi, Stasys, Synaptic, The Medicines Company, Youngene, 89Bio; royalties: Elsevier (Editor, Braunwald’s Heart Disease); site co-investigator: Abbott, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, CSI, Endotronix, St Jude Medical (now Abbott), Philips, SpectraWAVE, Svelte, Vascular Solutions; trustee: American College of Cardiology; unfunded research: FlowCo. Dr Kastelein has served on a clinical trials steering committee for Novartis, NewAmsterdam Pharma, and CSL Behring; has served as a consultant or speaker for Scribe, CiVi Biotech, Draupnir, 89Bio, and Esperion Therapeutics; and is Chief Science Officer at NewAmsterdam Pharma. Dr Bode has received research support from CSL Behring. Dr Mahaffey has received research funding from the American Heart Association, Apple, Inc, Bayer, California Institute of Regenerative medicine, CLS Behring, Eidos, Ferring, Gilead, Google (Verily), Idorsia, Johnson & Johnson, Luitpold, Novartis, PAC-12, Predordior, and Sanifit; has served as a consultant for Applied Therapeutics, Bayer, BMS, BridgeBio, CSL Behring, Elsevier, Fosun Pharma, Human, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Myokardia, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Otsuka, Phasebio, Portola, Quidel, and Theravance; and has equity in Human, Medeloop, Precordior, and Regencor. Dr Steg has received research grants from Amarin and Sanofi; has served on clinical trials (steering committee, clinical events committee, data and safety monitoring board [DSMB]) for Amarin, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, CSL Behring, Idorsia, Janssen, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Sanofi; has served as a consultant or speaker for Amarin, Amgen, BMS, and Novo Nordisk; and is Senior Associate Editor at Circulation. Dr Tendera has received consultation fees from the PERFUSE Group for participation in the executive committee, sponsored by CSL Behring for meetings of the study; has received consultation fees from Bayer, Janssen-Cilag, Kowa, and Servier for activities unrelated to the study; and has received a lecture honorarium from Bayer. Dr Bainey has received research support from CSL Behring. Dr Harrington has research relationships with Baim Institute (DSMB), CSL (Randomized Controlled Trial [RCT] Executive Committee), Janssen (RCT Chair), NHLBI (RCT Executive Committee; DSMB Chair), PCORI (RCT Co-Chair), and DCRI; has served as a consultant for Atropos Health, Bitterroot Bio, BMS, BridgeBio, Element Science, Edwards Lifesciences, Foresite Labs, and Medscape/WebMD; and has served on the board of directors for American Heart Association, College of the Holy Cross, and Cytokinetics. Dr Mehran has received institutional research payments from Abbott, Abiomed, Affluent Medical, Alleviant Medical, Amgen, AM-Pharma, Arena, AstraZeneca, AtriCure Inc, Biosensors, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, CardiaWave, CeloNova, CERC, Chiesi, Cleerly Health Inc, Concept Medical, Cytosorbents, Daiichi-Sankyo, Duke, Element Science, Essential Medical, Faraday, Idorsia Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, MedAlliance, Mediasphere, Medtelligence, Medtronic, MJH Healthcare, Novartis, OrbusNeich, Penumbra, PhaseBio, Philips, Pi-Cardia, PLx Pharma, Population Health Research Institute, Protembis, RecCor Medical Inc, RenalPro, RM Global, Sanofi, Shockwave, Vivasure, and Zoll; has received personal fees from Affluent Medical, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), Cordis, Daiichi-Sankyo Brasil, E.R. Squibb & Sons, Esperion Science/Innovative Biopharma, Europa Group/Boston Scientific, Gaffney Events, Educational Trust, Henry Ford Health Cardiology, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Lilly and Company, MedCon International, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, PeerView Institute for Medical Education, TERUMO Europe N.V., Vectura, VoxMedia, WebMD, IQVIA, Radcliffe, and TARSUS Cardiology; has served on the Scientific Advisory Board fpr AMA; has served as a Women in Innovations Committee Member for SCAI; has received faculty CRF honorarium from JAMA Cardiology (Associate Editor), ACC (BOT Member, SC Member CTR Program); and has equity <1% in Applied Therapeutics, Elixir Medical, Stel, CntrolRad (spouse). Dr Duerschmied has received speaker honoraria from Daiichi-Sankyo, Bayer Healthcare, Boston Scientific, Pfizer, and AOP Health; and has received consulting fees from Boston Scientific, CSL Behring, and Johnson & Johnson. Dr Kingwell is an employee and shareholder of CSL Ltd. Dr Gibson has received research funding from CSL Behring, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson Corporation, and SCAD Alliance; has received consulting from Angel/Avertix Medical Corporation, AstraZeneca, Bayer Corporation, Beren Therapeutics, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Clinical Research Institute, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardiovascular Research Foundation, CeleCor Therapeutics, CSL Behring, DCRI, Esperion, EXCITE International ($0 received), Fortress Biotech, Gilead Sciences, Inc, Janssen, Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson Corporation, MashUp MD, MD Magazine, Microport, MJHealth, Novartis, NovoNordisk, Pfizer, PHRI, PLxPharma, SCAI, Solstic Health/New Amsterdam Pharma, Somahlution/Marizyme, Vectura, Web MD, and Women as One; has equity in nference, Dyad Medical, Absolutys, Fortress Biotech; and has received royalties as contributor to UpToDate., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Cardiovascular events frequently recur after acute myocardial infarction, and low cholesterol efflux - a process mediated by apolipoprotein A1, which is the main protein in high-density lipoprotein - has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. CSL112 is human apolipoprotein A1 derived from plasma that increases cholesterol efflux capacity. Whether infusions of CSL112 can reduce the risk of recurrent cardiovascular events after acute myocardial infarction is unclear., Methods: We conducted an international, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving patients with acute myocardial infarction, multivessel coronary artery disease, and additional cardiovascular risk factors. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either four weekly infusions of 6 g of CSL112 or matching placebo, with the first infusion administered within 5 days after the first medical contact for the acute myocardial infarction. The primary end point was a composite of myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes from randomization through 90 days of follow-up., Results: A total of 18,219 patients were included in the trial (9112 in the CSL112 group and 9107 in the placebo group). There was no significant difference between the groups in the risk of a primary end-point event at 90 days of follow-up (439 patients [4.8%] in the CSL112 group vs. 472 patients [5.2%] in the placebo group; hazard ratio, 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.81 to 1.05; P = 0.24), at 180 days of follow-up (622 patients [6.9%] vs. 683 patients [7.6%]; hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.81 to 1.01), or at 365 days of follow-up (885 patients [9.8%] vs. 944 patients [10.5%]; hazard ratio, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.85 to 1.02). The percentage of patients with adverse events was similar in the two groups; a higher number of hypersensitivity events was reported in the CSL112 group., Conclusions: Among patients with acute myocardial infarction, multivessel coronary artery disease, and additional cardiovascular risk factors, four weekly infusions of CSL112 did not result in a lower risk of myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes than placebo through 90 days. (Funded by CSL Behring; AEGIS-II ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03473223.)., (Copyright © 2024 Massachusetts Medical Society.)

Importance: The effect of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in men with hypogonadism on the risk of progression from prediabetes to diabetes or of inducing glycemic remission in those with diabetes is unknown., Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of TRT in preventing progression from prediabetes to diabetes in men with hypogonadism who had prediabetes and in inducing glycemic remission in those with diabetes., Design, Setting, and Participants: This nested substudy, an intention-to-treat analysis, within a placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial (Testosterone Replacement Therapy for Assessment of Long-Term Vascular Events and Efficacy Response in Hypogonadal Men [TRAVERSE]) was conducted at 316 trial sites in the US. Participants included men aged 45 to 80 years with hypogonadism and prediabetes or diabetes who were enrolled in TRAVERSE between May 23, 2018, and February 1, 2022., Intervention: Participants were randomized 1:1 to receive 1.62% testosterone gel or placebo gel until study completion., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary end point was the risk of progression from prediabetes to diabetes, analyzed using repeated-measures log-binomial regression. The secondary end point was the risk of glycemic remission (hemoglobin A1c level <6.5% [to convert to proportion of total hemoglobin, multiply by 0.01] or 2 fasting glucose measurements <126 mg/dL [to convert to mmol/L, multiply by 0.0555] without diabetes medication) in men who had diabetes., Results: Of 5204 randomized participants, 1175 with prediabetes (mean [SD] age, 63.8 [8.1] years) and 3880 with diabetes (mean [SD] age, 63.2 [7.8] years) were included in this study. Mean (SD) hemoglobin A1c level in men with prediabetes was 5.8% (0.4%). Risk of progression to diabetes did not differ significantly between testosterone and placebo groups: 4 of 598 (0.7%) vs 8 of 562 (1.4%) at 6 months, 45 of 575 (7.8%) vs 57 of 533 (10.7%) at 12 months, 50 of 494 (10.1%) vs 67 of 460 (14.6%) at 24 months, 46 of 359 (12.8%) vs 52 of 330 (15.8%) at 36 months, and 22 of 164 (13.4%) vs 19 of 121 (15.7%) at 48 months (omnibus test P = .49). The proportions of participants with diabetes who experienced glycemic remission and the changes in glucose and hemoglobin A1c levels were similar in testosterone- and placebo-treated men with prediabetes or diabetes., Conclusions and Relevance: In men with hypogonadism and prediabetes, the incidence of progression from prediabetes to diabetes did not differ significantly between testosterone- and placebo-treated men. Testosterone replacement therapy did not improve glycemic control in men with hypogonadism and prediabetes or diabetes. These findings suggest that TRT alone should not be used as a therapeutic intervention to prevent or treat diabetes in men with hypogonadism., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03518034.

Importance: The ATP citrate lyase (ACL) inhibitor, bempedoic acid, reduces low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) by 13% in patients at high cardiovascular risk with intolerance of statin and high-intensity statin medications. The effects of bempedoic acid on total cardiovascular events remain unknown., Objective: To determine the impact of bempedoic acid on the total incidence of MACE., Design, Setting, and Participants: Included in this prespecified analysis of the Cholesterol Lowering via Bempedoic Acid, an ACL-Inhibiting Regimen (CLEAR) Outcomes trial were patients with, or at high risk for, cardiovascular disease, with hypercholesterolemia and inability to take guideline-recommended statins. Study data were analyzed from December 2016 to November 2022., Interventions: Patients were randomly assigned to treatment with bempedoic acid or placebo daily., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary end point was the time to first event for a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or coronary revascularization (MACE-4). The key secondary end point was time to first event for cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and nonfatal stroke (MACE-3). This prespecified analysis compared the total number of cardiovascular events in the treatment groups., Results: A total of 13 970 patients (mean [SD] age, 65 [9] years; 7230 male [51.8%]) were included in the study. A total of 9764 participants (69.9%) had prior atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and a baseline LDL-C level of 139 mg/dL; treatment with bempedoic acid resulted in a 21% reduction in LDL-C level and a 22% reduction in high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) level at 6 months. Median (IQR) follow-up was 3.4 (3.1-3.9) years. A total of 1746 positively adjudicated first MACE-4 events and 915 additional MACE events in 612 patients were recorded, with coronary revascularization representing 32.8% (573 of 1746) of first events and 69.4% (635 of 915) of additional events. For the total incidence of cardiovascular events, treatment with bempedoic acid was associated with a reduction in risk of MACE-4 (hazard ratio [HR], 0.80; 95% CI, 0.72-0.89; P <.001), MACE-3 (HR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.73-0.93; P = .002), myocardial infarction (HR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.58-0.83; P < .001), and coronary revascularization (HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.68-0.89; P <.001), although no statistically significant difference was observed for stroke (HR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.63-1.03). A lower HR for protection with bempedoic acid was observed with increasing number of MACE events experienced by patients., Conclusion and Relevance: Lowering LDL-C level with bempedoic acid reduced the total number of cardiovascular events in patients with high cardiovascular risk, statin therapy intolerance, and elevated LDL-C levels.

Aims: To assess the impact of age on the prognostic value of NT-proBNP concentration in patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) stabilised after an Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS)., Methods: The AleCardio study compared aleglitazar with placebo in 7226 patients with T2DM and recent ACS. Patients with heart failure were excluded. Median follow-up was 104 weeks. Baseline NT-proBNP plasma concentration was measured centrally. Multivariable Cox regression was used to determine the mortality predictive information provided by NT-proBNP across age groups., Results: Median age was 61y (IQR 54, 67). NT-proBNP concentration increased by quartile (Q) of age (median 264, 318, 391, and 588 pg/ml). Compared to Q1, patients in Q4 of NT-proBNP had higher (p < 0.001) adjusted HR for all-cause (aHR 6.9; 95 % CI 4.0-12) and cardiovascular (11; 5.4-23) death. Within each age Q, baseline NT-proBNP in patients who died was 3 times higher than in survivors (all p < 0.001). When age and NT-proBNP levels were modeled as continuous variables, their interaction term was nonsignificant. The relative prognostic information provided by NT-proBNP (percent of total X 2 ) increased from 38 % in age Q1 to 75 % in age Q4 for mortality, and from 50 % to 88 % for CV death., Conclusions: Among patients with T2DM stabilised after an ACS, NT-proBNP level predicts death irrespective of age., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Utilization patterns of bariatric surgery among older patients with heart failure (HF), and the associations with cardiovascular outcomes, are not well known., Methods: Medicare beneficiaries with HF and at least class II obesity from 2013 to 2020 were identified with Medicare Provider Analysis and Review 100% inpatient files and Medicare 5% outpatient files. Patients who underwent bariatric surgery were matched to controls in a 1:2 ratio (matched on exact age, sex, race, body mass index, HF encounter year, and HF hospitalization rate pre-surgery/matched period). In an exploratory analysis, patients prescribed pharmacotherapies with weight loss effects (semaglutide, liraglutide, naltrexone-bupropion, or orlistat) were identified and matched to controls with a similar strategy in addition to HF medical therapy data. Cox models evaluated associations between weight loss therapies (as a time-varying covariate) and mortality risk and HF hospitalization rate (calculated as the rate of HF hospitalizations following index HF encounter per 100 person-months) during follow-up., Results: Of 298 101 patients with HF and body mass index ≥35 kg/m 2 , 2594 (0.9%) underwent bariatric surgery (45% men; mean age, 56.2 years; mean body mass index, 51.5 kg/m 2 ). In propensity-matched analyses over a median follow-up of 4.7 years, bariatric surgery was associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR, 0.55 [95% CI, 0.49-0.63]; P <0.001), greater reduction in HF hospitalization rate (rate ratio, 0.72 [95% CI, 0.67-0.77]; P <0.001), and lower atrial fibrillation risk (HR, 0.78 [95% CI, 0.65-0.93]; P =0.006). Use of pharmacotherapies with weight loss effects was low (4.8%), with 96.3% prescribed GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) agonists (semaglutide, 23.6%; liraglutide, 72.7%). In propensity-matched analysis over a median follow-up of 2.8 years, patients receiving pharmacotherapies with weight loss effects (versus matched controls) had a lower risk of all-cause mortality (HR, 0.82 [95% CI, 0.71-0.95]; P =0.007) and HF hospitalization rate (rate ratio, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.77-0.99]; P =0.04)., Conclusions: Bariatric surgery and pharmacotherapies with weight loss effects are associated with a lower risk of adverse outcomes among older patients with HF and obesity; however, overall utilization remains low., Competing Interests: Disclosures Dr Desai is a consultant at Medtronic, Cytokinetics, Tenaya, and Bristol Myers Squibb. Dr Patel has served as a consultant at Novo Nordisk. Dr Aminian received research support and honorarium from Medtronic and Ethicon. He is on the executive steering committee of a trial sponsored by Eli Lilly. Dr Keshvani has served as a consultant for HeartSciences and Tricog Inc. Dr Verma holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Surgery and reports receiving research grants and/or speaking honoraria from Amarin, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group, Eli Lilly, HLS Therapeutics, Janssen, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, PhaseBio, S & L Solutions Event Management Inc, and Sanofi. He is the President of the Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group, a federally incorporated not-for-profit physician organization. Dr Lincoff has received honoraria or served as a consultant for Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Akebia, Alnylam, Ardelyx, Becton Dickinson, Brainstorm Cell, Cadrenal, Endologix, Fibrogen, GlaxoSmithKline, Intarcia, Medtronic, Neovasc, Provention Bio, and ReCor and has received research funding to his institution from AbbVie, AstraZeneca, CSL Behring, Eli Lilly, Esperion, and Novartis. Dr Van Spall receives research funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and education program funding from Boehringer Ingelheim and Novartis. Dr Lam is supported by a Clinician Scientist Award from the National Medical Research Council of Singapore; has received research support from Novo Nordisk and Roche Diagnostics; has served as consultant or on the Advisory Board/Steering Committee/Executive Committee for Alleviant Medical, Allysta Pharma, AnaCardio AB, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Biopeutics, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, CardioRenal, Cytokinetics, Darma Inc, EchoNous Inc, Eli Lilly, Impulse Dynamics, Intellia Therapeutics, Ionis Pharmaceutical, Janssen Research & Development LLC, Medscape/WebMD Global LLC, Merck, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Prosciento Inc, Quidel Corporation, Radcliffe Group Ltd, Recardio Inc, ReCor Medical, Roche Diagnostics, Sanofi, and Siemens Healthcare Diagnosticsand Us2.ai; and serves as cofounder and non-executive director of Us2.ai. Dr Butler has served as a consultant for Abbott, American Regent, Amgen, Applied Therapeutic, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cardiac Dimension, Cardior, CVRx, Cytokinetics, Daxor Edwards, Element Science, Innolife, Impulse Dynamics, Imbria, Inventiva, Lexicon, Lilly, LivaNova, Janssen, Medtronics, Merck, Occlutech, Owkin, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Pharmacosmos, Pharmain, Prolaio, Roche, Secretome, Sequana, SQ Innovation, Tenex, and Vifor. Dr Nissen reports that the Cleveland Clinic Center for Clinical Research has received funding to perform clinical trials from Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Amgen, Arrowhead, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Medtronic, MyoKardia, New Amsterdam Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, Pfizer, and Silence Therapeutics. Dr Nissen is involved in these clinical trials but receives no personal remuneration for his participation. Dr Pandey has received research support from the National Institute of Health. Dr Pandey has received grant funding from Applied Therapeutics and Gilead Sciences; has received honoraria outside of the present study as an advisor/consultant for Tricog Health Inc, Lilly USA, Rivus, Cytokinetics, Roche Diagnostics, Axon Therapies, Medtronic, Edward Lifesciences, Science37, Novo Nordisk, Bayer, Merck, Sarfez Pharmaceuticals, and Emmi Solutions; and has received nonfinancial support from Pfizer and Merck. Dr Pandey is also a consultant for Palomarin Inc with stock compensation. The other authors report no conflicts.

Background: Patients who experience in-hospital ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (iSTEMI) represent a uniquely high-risk cohort owing to delays in diagnosis, prolonged time to reperfusion and increased mortality. Quality initiatives aimed at improving the care of this vulnerable, yet understudied population are needed., Methods: This study included consecutive patients with iSTEMI treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) between 1 January 2011 and 15 July 2019 at a single, tertiary referral centre. A comprehensive iSTEMI protocol (CSP) was implemented on 15 July 2014, incorporating: (1) cardiology fellow activation of the catheterisation lab using standardised criteria, (2) nursing chest pain protocol, (3) improved electronic access to electrocardiographic studies, (4) checklist for initial triage and management, (5) 24/7/365 catheterisation lab readiness and (6) radial-first PCI approach. Key metrics and clinical outcomes were compared before and after CSP implementation., Results: Among 125 total subjects, the post-CSP cohort (n=81) was younger, had more males and were more likely to be hospitalised for cardiac-related reasons relative to the pre-CSP cohort (n=44) who were more likely hospitalised for operative-related aetiologies. After CSP adoption, median ECG-to-first-device-activation time decreased from 113 min to 64 min (p<0.001), goal ECG-to-first-device-activation time increased from 36% to 76% of patients (p<0.001), administration of guideline-directed medical therapy prior to PCI increased from 27.3% to 65.4% (p<0.001), trans-radial access increased from 16% to 70% (p<0.001) and rates of discharge home increased from 56.8% to 76.5% (p=0.04). Statistically insignificant numerical reductions were observed post-CSP in in-hospital mortality (18.2% vs 9.9%, p=0.30), 30-day mortality (15.9% vs 12.3%, p=0.78) and 1-year mortality (27.3% vs 21.0%, p=0.57)., Conclusions: The implementation of a CSP was associated with marked enhancements in key care metrics among patients with iSTEMI. Among a larger cohort, the use of a CSP yielded a significant reduction in ECG-to-first-device-activation time in a particularly vulnerable population at high risk of death., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Context: Few long-term randomized trials have evaluated the efficacy of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in improving sexual function and hypogonadal symptoms in men with hypogonadism and whether effects are sustained beyond 12 months., Objective: The Testosterone Replacement therapy for Assessment of long-term Vascular Events and efficacy ResponSE in hypogonadal men (TRAVERSE) study evaluated the effect of TRT on major adverse cardiovascular events in middle-aged and older men with hypogonadism. The Sexual Function Study, nested within the parent trial, determined testosterone's efficacy in improving sexual activity, hypogonadal symptoms, libido, and erectile function among men reporting low libido., Methods: Among 5204 men, 45-80 years, with 2 testosterone concentrations <300 ng/dL, hypogonadal symptoms, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) or increased CVD risk enrolled in the TRAVERSE trial, 1161 with low libido were enrolled in the Sexual Function Study (587 randomized to receive 1.62% testosterone gel and 574 to placebo gel for the duration of their participation in the study). Primary outcome was change from baseline in sexual activity score. Secondary outcomes included hypogonadal symptoms, erectile function, and sexual desire., Results: TRT was associated with significantly greater improvement in sexual activity than placebo (estimated mean [95% CI] between-group difference 0.49 [0.19,0.79] and 0.47 [0.11, 0.83] acts per day at 6 and 12 months, respectively; omnibus test P = .011); treatment effect was maintained at 24 months. TRT improved hypogonadal symptoms and sexual desire, but not erectile function, compared with placebo., Conclusion: In middle-aged and older men with hypogonadism and low libido, TRT for 2 years improved sexual activity, hypogonadal symptoms, and sexual desire, but not erectile function., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Endocrine Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Increasing evidence has shown that coronary spasm and vasomotor dysfunction may be the underlying cause in more than half of myocardial infarctions with non-obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA) as well as an important cause of chronic chest pain in the outpatient setting. We review the contemporary understanding of coronary spasm and related vasomotor dysfunction of the coronary arteries, the pathophysiology and prognosis, and current and emerging approaches to diagnosis and evidence-based treatment.

Background: Among patients treated with statin therapy to guideline-recommended cholesterol levels, residual inflammatory risk assessed by high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) is at least as strong a predictor of future cardiovascular events as is residual risk assessed by low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC). Whether these relationships are present among statin-intolerant patients with higher LDLC levels is uncertain but has implications for the choice of preventive therapies, including bempedoic acid, an agent that reduces both LDLC and hsCRP., Methods: The multinational CLEAR-Outcomes trial (Cholesterol Lowering via Bempedoic Acid, an ACL-Inhibiting Regimen Outcomes Trial) randomly allocated 13 970 statin-intolerant patients to 180 mg of oral bempedoic acid daily or matching placebo and followed them for a 4-component composite of incident myocardial infarction, stroke, coronary revascularization, or cardiovascular death, and for all-cause mortality. Quartiles of increasing baseline hsCRP and LDLC were assessed as predictors of future adverse events after adjustment for traditional risk factors and randomized treatment assignment., Results: Compared with placebo, bempedoic acid reduced median hsCRP by 21.6% and mean LDLC levels by 21.1% at 6 months. Baseline hsCRP was significantly associated with the primary composite end point of major cardiovascular events (highest versus lowest hsCRP quartile; hazard ratio [HR], 1.43 [95% CI, 1.24-1.65]), cardiovascular mortality (HR, 2.00 [95% CI, 1.53-2.61]), and all-cause mortality (HR, 2.21 [95% CI, 1.79-2.73]). By contrast, the relationship of baseline LDLC quartile (highest versus lowest) to future events was smaller in magnitude for the primary composite cardiovascular end point (HR, 1.19 [95% CI, 1.04-1.37]) and neutral for cardiovascular mortality (HR, 0.90 [95% CI, 0.70-1.17]) and all-cause mortality (HR, 0.95 [95% CI, 0.78-1.16]). Risks were high for those with elevated hsCRP irrespective of LDLC level. Bempedoic acid demonstrated similar efficacy in reducing cardiovascular events across all levels of hsCRP and LDLC., Conclusions: Among contemporary statin-intolerant patients, inflammation assessed by hsCRP predicted risk for future cardiovascular events and death more strongly than hyperlipidemia assessed by LDLC. Compared with placebo, bempedoic acid had similar efficacy for reducing cardiovascular risk across hsCRP and LDLC strata., Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT02993406., Competing Interests: Disclosures Dr Ridker has received institutional research grant support from Kowa, Novartis, Amarin, Pfizer, Esperion, NovoNordisk, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; has served as a consultant to Novartis, Flame, Agepha, Ardelyx, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Civi Biopharm, Glaxo Smith Kline, SOCAR, Novo Nordisk, Health Outlook, Montai Health, Eli Lilly, New Amsterdam, Boehringer-Ingelheim, RTI; Zomagen, Cytokinetics, Horizon Therapeutics, and Cardio Therapeutics; has minority shareholder equity positions in Uppton, Bitteroot Bio, and Angiowave; and receives compensation for service on the Peter Munk Advisory Board (University of Toronto), the Leducq Foundation, Paris FR, and the Baim Institute (Boston, MA). Drs Lei and Louie are employees of Esperion Therapeutics. Dr Haddad reports no conflicts. Dr Nicholls has received research support from AstraZeneca, New Amsterdam Pharma, Amgen, Anthera, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Novartis, Cerenis, The Medicines Company, Resverlogix, InfraReDx, Roche, Sanofi-Regeneron, Fauna Bio and LipoScience and is a consultant for AstraZeneca, Amarin, Akcea, Eli Lilly, Anthera, Omthera, Merck, Takeda, Resverlogix, Sanofi-Regeneron, CSL Behring, Esperion, Boehringer Ingelheim, Vaxxinity, Sequiris, Silence Therapeutics. Dr Lincoff has received institutional research grant support from AbbVie, AstraZeneca, CSL Behring, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Novartis and has served as a consultant to Akebia, Ardelyx, Becton-Dickson, Eli Lilly, Endologix, Fibrogen, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Neovasc, Novo Nordisk, Provention Bio, and ReCor. Dr Libby is an unpaid consultant to, or involved in clinical trials for Amgen, AstraZeneca, Baim Institute, Beren Therapeutics, Esperion Therapeutics, Genentech, Kancera, Kowa Pharmaceuticals, Medimmune, Merck, Moderna, Novo Nordisk, Novartis, Pfizer, and Sanofi-Regeneron. He is a member of the scientific advisory board for Amgen, Caristo Diagnostics, Cartesian Therapeutics, CSL Behring, DalCor Pharmaceuticals, Eulicid Bioimaging, Kancera, Kowa Pharmaceuticals, Olatec Therapeutics, Medimmune, Novartis, PlaqueTec, TenSixteen Bio, Soley Thereapeutics, and XBiotech, Inc. Dr Libby’s laboratory has received research funding the past 2 years from Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Genentech and receives current funding support from National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (1R01HL134892 and 1R01HL163099-01), the RRM Charitable Fund and the Simard Fund. He is on the Board of Directors of XBiotech, Inc. Dr Libby has a financial interest in Xbiotech, a company developing therapeutic human antibodies, in TenSixteen Bio, a company targeting somatic mosaicism and clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) to discover and develop novel therapeutics to treat age-related diseases, and in Soley Therapeutics, a biotechnology company that is combining artificial intelligence with molecular and cellular response detection for discovering and developing new drugs, currently focusing on cancer therapeutics. Dr Libby’s interests were reviewed and are managed by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Mass General Brigham in accordance with their conflict-of-interest policies. Dr Nissen reports that the Cleveland Clinic Center for Clinical Research has received funding to perform clinical trials from Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Medtronic, MyoKardia, New Amsterdam Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, Pfizer, and Silence Therapeutics. Dr Nissen is involved in these clinical trials but receives no personal remuneration for his participation.

Background: Bempedoic acid is an oral adenosine triphosphate citrate lyase (ACL) inhibitor that lowers low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) blood levels. The Cholesterol Lowering via Bempedoic acid, an ACL-Inhibiting Regimen (CLEAR) Outcomes study demonstrated that bempedoic acid reduced cardiovascular (CV) risk in patients at high risk for CV events who were unwilling or unable to take guideline-recommended doses of statins., Objective: To describe detailed safety information from CLEAR Outcomes, including events in the United States (US) prescribing information based on previous phase 3 hyperlipidemia studies., Methods: CLEAR Outcomes was a double-blind trial conducted in 13,970 patients randomized to oral bempedoic acid 180 mg daily or placebo and followed for a median of 3.4 years., Results: In patients who received at least one dose (7,001 bempedoic acid, 6,964 placebo), treatment emergent adverse events (AE) occurred in 86.3 % and 85 % of patients, respectively. COVID-19 was the most frequently reported AE in both groups. Changes in serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, hemoglobin, aminotransaminases, and uric acid were consistent with the known safety profile of bempedoic acid. Gout or gouty arthritis occurred in 3.2 % of bempedoic acid and 2.2 % of placebo patients. AE associated with tendinopathies, including tendon rupture, occurred in 2 % of patients in both treatment groups. Cholelithiasis occurred in 2.2 % of bempedoic acid and 1.2 % of placebo patients; AE related to gallbladder disease were similar between treatment groups., Conclusions: Bempedoic acid was well-tolerated compared with placebo. Safety data from the long-term CLEAR Outcomes study reinforce the positive benefit-risk profile of bempedoic acid., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: Tirzepatide, a once-weekly GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist, reduces blood glucose and body weight in people with type 2 diabetes. The cardiovascular (CV) safety and efficacy of tirzepatide have not been definitively assessed in a cardiovascular outcomes trial., Methods: Tirzepatide is being studied in a randomized, double-blind, active-controlled CV outcomes trial. People with type 2 diabetes aged ≥40 years, with established atherosclerotic CV disease, HbA1c ≥7% to ≤10.5%, and body mass index ≥25 kg/m 2 were randomized 1:1 to once weekly subcutaneous injection of either tirzepatide up to 15 mg or dulaglutide 1.5 mg. The primary outcome is time to first occurrence of any major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE), defined as CV death, myocardial infarction, or stroke. The trial is event-driven and planned to continue until ≥1,615 participants experience an adjudication-confirmed component of MACE. The primary analysis is noninferiority for time to first MACE of tirzepatide vs dulaglutide by demonstrating an upper confidence limit <1.05, which will also confirm superiority vs a putative placebo, and also to determine whether tirzepatide produces a greater CV benefit than dulaglutide (superiority analysis)., Results: Over 2 years, 13,299 people at 640 sites in 30 countries across all world regions were randomized. The mean age of randomized participants at baseline was 64.1 years, diabetes duration 14.7 years, HbA1c 8.4%, and BMI 32.6 kg/m 2 . Overall, 65.0% had coronary disease, of whom 47.3% reported prior myocardial infarction and 57.4% had prior coronary revascularization. 19.1% of participants had a prior stroke and 25.3% had peripheral artery disease. The trial is fully recruited and ongoing., Conclusion: SURPASS-CVOT will provide definitive evidence as to the CV safety and efficacy of tirzepatide as compared with dulaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist with established CV benefit., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest SJN reports grants or contracts from Amgen, Anthera Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Cerenis Therapeutics, CSL Behring, Eli Lilly and Company, Esperion Therapeutics, Infraredx, New Amsterdam Pharma, Novartis, Resverlogix, and Sanofi Regeneron; consulting fees from Akcea Therapeutics, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSL Behring, Eli Lilly and Company, Esperion Therapeutics, Kowa, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Sanofi Regeneron, Takeda, Vaxxinity, Silence Therapeutics, and CSL Sequiris; is a named inventor on a patent planned, issued or pending with Amgen; and is President of Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. DLB reports grants or contracts from Abbott, Acesion Pharma, Afimmune, Aker Biomarine, Amarin, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Beren, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cardax, CellProthera, Cereno Scientific, Chiesi, Cincor, Cleerly, CSL Behring, Eisai, Ethicon, Faraday Pharmaceuticals, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Forest Laboratories, Fractyl, Garmin, HLS Therapeutics, Idorsia, Ironwood, Ischemix, Janssen, Javelin, Lexicon, Eli Lilly and Company, Medtronic, Merck, Moderna, MyoKardia, NirvaMed, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Owkin, Pfizer Inc, PhaseBio, PLx Pharma, Recardio, Regeneron, Reid Hoffman Foundation, Roche, Sanofi, Stasys, Synaptic, The Medicines Company, Youngene, 89bio, Otsuka, and Alnylam; royalties from Elsevier; consulting fees from Broadview Ventures, Hims, and McKinsey; payment or honoraria from American College of Cardiology, Baim Institute for Clinical Research, Belvoir Publications, Boston Scientific, Cleveland Clinic, Duke Clinical Research Institute, Mayo Clinic, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Novartis, Population Health Research Institute, Rutgers University, Canadian Medical and Surgical Knowledge Translation Research Group, Cowen and Company, HMP Global, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, K2P, Level Ex, Medtelligence/ReachMD, MJH Life Sciences, Oakstone CME, Piper Sandler, Population Health Research Institute, Slack Publications, WebMD, Wiley, Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care, and CSL Behring; payment for expert testimony from Arnold and Porter law firm; meeting/travel support from American College of Cardiology, Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care, and American Heart Association; a pending patent for Sotagliflozin; participation on data monitoring or advisory boards for Acesion Pharma, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, AngioWave, Baim Institute, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Cardax, CellProthera, Cereno Scientific, Cleveland Clinic, Contego Medical, Duke Clinical Research Institute, Elsevier Practice Update Cardiology, Janssen, Level Ex, Mayo Clinic, Medscape Cardiology, Merck, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, MyoKardia, NirvaMed, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, PhaseBio, PLx Pharma, Regado Biosciences, Population Health Research Institute, and Stasys; leadership or fiduciary roles with American College of Cardiology, AngioWave, Boston VA Research Institute, Bristol Myers Squibb, DRS.LINQ, High Enroll, Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care, TobeSoft, and AHA NYC Chapter; stock or stock options in AngioWave, Bristol Myers Squibb, DRS.LINQ, and High Enroll; and other financial or non-financial interests in Clinical Cardiology (Deputy Editor), NCDR-ACTION Registry Steering Committee (Chair), American Heart Association Quality Oversight Committee (Chair), VA CART Research and Publications Committee (Chair), Contego Medical (Chair, PERFORMANCE 2), conducts unfunded research with FlowCo and Takeda, and is site co-investigator for Abbott, Biotronik, Boston Scientific, CSI, St. Jude Medical (now Abbott), Phillips SpectraWAVE, Svelte, and Vascular Solutions. JBB reports grant support from Dexcom, Insulet, MannKind, NovaTarg, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, Tolerion, and vTv Therapeutics; consulting fees from Novo Nordisk, Alkahest, Altimmune, Anji, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Biomea Fusion Inc, Boehringer Ingelheim, CeQur, Cirius Therapeutics Inc, Corcept Therapeutics, CultHealth, Eli Lilly and Company, embecta, GentiBio, Glycadia, Glyscend, Janssen, Mellitus Health, Metsera, Moderna, Pendulum Therapeutics, Praetego, Sanofi, Stability Health, Tandem, Terns Inc, Valo, and Zealand Pharma; payment for expert testimony from Medtronic; participation on data monitoring or advisory boards for Alkahest, Altimmune, AstraZeneca, and Tandem; a leadership or fiduciary role with Association of Clinical and Translational Science; stock or stock options in Glyscend, Mellitus Health, Pendulum Therapeutics, PhaseBio, Praetego and Stability Health; and other financial or other non-financial interests in Dasman Diabetes Center, Kuwait City (scientific advisory board), and ReachMD and Mediflix (audiovisual content development). SDP reports consultation for Abbott, Amarin, Applied Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly and Company, Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, Menarini International, MSD, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi; grant support from AstraZeneca and Boehringer Ingelheim; and speaker fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly and Company, Laboratori Guidotti, MSD, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi.. SEK reports consulting fees from Anji Pharamceuticals, Eli Lilly and Company, Merck, and Novo Nordisk; and payment or honoraria from Novo Nordisk. AML reports grants or contracts from Eli Lilly and Company; consulting fees from Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk, and Novartis; and meeting/travel support from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly and Company. DKM reports research support for clinical trials leadership from Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck & Co, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, Esperion, Lilly USA, Lexicon, CSL Behring, and New Amsterdam; and honoraria for consultancy from Lilly USA, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck & Co, Novo Nordisk, Applied Therapeutics, Altimmune, CSL Behring, Bayer, and Intercept. MAN reports grants or contracts from Merck, Sharp & Dohme; consulting fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Berlin-Chemie/Menarini, Eli Lilly and Company, Medtronic, Merck, Sharp & Dohme, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Regor, Structure Therapeutics (Gasherbrum), and Sun Pharma; payment or honoraria from Berlin-Chemie/Menarini, Eli Lilly and Company, Medical Learning Institute, Medscape, Merck, Sharp & Dohme, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Sun Pharma; and participation on a data monitoring or advisory board with Inventiva. SEN reports that the Cleveland Clinic Center for Clinical Research has received funding to perform clinical trials from Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Arrowhead, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Medtronic, MyoKardia, New Amsterdam Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, and Silence Therapeutics. NS reports grants and personal fees from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Novartis; a grant from Roche Diagnostics; and personal fees from Abbott Laboratories, Amgen, Eli Lilly and Company, Hanmi Pharmaceuticals, Janssen, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Sanofi. BZ reports consulting fees from Eli Lilly and Company. SZ reports grants or contracts from NHMRC, Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, JDRF Centre of Excellence, and MRFF; consulting fees from Eli Lilly Australia, Boehringer-Ingelheim, MSD Australia, Astra Zeneca, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi; payment or honoraria from Heart Foundation; meeting/travel support from Australian Diabetes Society 2022, International Diabetes Federation 2022, and KDIGO Implementation Summit on Diabetes Management in CKD; and leadership or fiduciary roles with Melanoma and Skin Cancer Trials Ltd., Australian Clinical Trials Alliance, and Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. JB reports consulting fees from Eli Lilly and Company, ReCor, and Medtronic; and participation on advisory boards for ReCor, Medtronic, and Eli Lilly and Company. AB, DM, HN, IP, GW, and RJW are employees and shareholders in Eli Lilly and Company. DD reports consulting fees from Eli Lilly and Company, Sun Pharmaceuticals, and Structure Therapeutics; payment or honoraria from University of Chicago, University of Iowa, and Korean Diabetes Association; meeting/travel support from American Diabetes Association; and stock or stock options in MBX Biosciences., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Statins reduce LDL cholesterol and cardiovascular events among those with or without diabetes but have been reported to increase new-onset diabetes. The CLEAR Outcomes trial demonstrated that bempedoic acid reduced the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events among statin-intolerant patients at high cardiovascular risk. In this prespecified analysis, our dual aims were to evaluate the cardiovascular benefits of bempedoic acid, an ATP-citrate lyase inhibitor, in individuals with diabetes, and to evaluate the risk of new-onset diabetes and HbA 1c among those without diabetes in the CLEAR Outcomes trial., Methods: CLEAR Outcomes was a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted across 1250 primary care and outpatient sites in 32 countries. Patients with or without cardiovascular disease who were unwilling or unable to take guideline-recommended doses of statins and an LDL cholesterol of 2·59 mmol/L or more were randomly assigned (1:1) in a double-blinded manner to either bempedoic acid 180 mg once per day or placebo. In this prespecified analysis, the efficacy endpoint was a time-to-event analysis of four-component major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE-4), which is the composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or coronary revascularisation, using the intention-to-treat population stratified by baseline glycaemia status. The prespecified analysis of risk of new-onset diabetes and HbA 1c increase was evaluated in patients without diabetes at baseline. The CLEAR Outcomes trial was completed on Nov 7, 2022, and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02993406)., Findings: Between Dec 22, 2016, and Nov 7, 2022, 13 970 patients were screened and randomly assigned; 6373 (45·6%) with diabetes, 5796 (41·5%) with prediabetes, and 1801 (12·9%) with normoglycaemia. Over a median of 3·4 years follow up, patients with diabetes had significant relative and absolute cardiovascular risk reductions in MACE-4 endpoints with bempedoic acid (HR 0·83; 95% CI 0·72-0·95; absolute risk reduction of 2·4%) compared to placebo, with no statistical evidence of effect modification across glycaemic strata (interaction p=0·42). The proportion of patients who developed new-onset diabetes were similar between the bempedoic acid and placebo groups, with 429 of 3848 (11·1%) with bempedoic acid versus 433 of 3749 (11·5%) with placebo (HR 0·95; 95% CI 0·83-1·09). HbA 1c concentrations at month 12 and the end of the study were similar between randomised groups in patients who had prediabetes and normoglycaemia. Placebo-corrected LDL cholesterol concentrations and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein at 6 months were reduced in each glycaemic stratum (diabetes, prediabtes, and normoglycaemia) for patients randomly assigned to bempedoic acid (all p<0·001)., Interpretation: Among patients with diabetes, bempedoic acid reduces LDL cholesterol and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and risk of cardiovascular events. Patients without diabetes had no increase in new-onset diabetes or worsening HbA 1c with bempedoic acid. The efficacy and cardiometabolic safety profile of bempedoic acid makes it a clinical option for those with and without diabetes., Funding: Esperion Therapeutics., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests KKR reports unrestricted research grants (in the last 3 years) to Imperial College London from Amgen, Sanofi, Regeneron, Daiichi Sankyo, and Ultragenix; consulting fees from Novartis, Daiichi Sankyo, Kowa, Esperion, Novo Nordisk, MSD, Lilly, Silence Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, New Amsterdam Pharma, Bayer, Beren Therapeutics, Cleerly, EmendoBio, Scribe, CRISPR, Vaxxinity, Amarin, Regeneron, Ultragenix, Cargene, and Resverlogix for serving as a member of the steering committee and executive committee of clinical trials and roles as principle investigator and national lead investigator; attending advisory boards, providing advice on data, its interpretation, and future lines of research, and lecture fees from Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, Viatris, Amarin, Biologix Pharma, Sanofi, Amgen, Esperion, Daiichi Sankyo, and Macleod Pharma for Continuing Medical Education and non-Continuing Medical Education symposia at international meetings; stock options from New Amsterdam Pharma and PEMI31; and serving as European Atherosclerosis Society President (unpaid). SJN has received research support from AstraZeneca, Amgen, Anthera, CSL Behring, Cerenis, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Resverlogix, Novartis, InfraReDx, and Sanofi-Regeneron; and is a consultant for Amgen, Akcea, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, CSL Behring, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Kowa, Merck, Takeda, Pfizer, Sanofi-Regeneron, Novo Nordisk, CSL Sequiris, and Vaxxinity. NL and MJL are employees of Esperion Therapeutics. AML has received Esperion research funding for this trial; receiving research funding from Eli Lilly, CSL, and Novartis; received consulting fees from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly; and received travel support for attending steering committee meetings from Esperion and Eli Lilly. SEN received grant support from Esperion for the CLEAR Outcomes Trial; and the Cleveland Clinic Center for Clinical Research has received funding to perform clinical trials from Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Arrowhead, Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Medtronic, MyoKardia, New Amsterdam Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, and Silence Therapeutics, in which SEN is involved in these clinical trials but receives no personal remuneration for his participation. DB reports no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, has been shown to reduce the risk of adverse cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes. Whether semaglutide can reduce cardiovascular risk associated with overweight and obesity in the absence of diabetes is unknown., Methods: In a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, event-driven superiority trial, we enrolled patients 45 years of age or older who had preexisting cardiovascular disease and a body-mass index (the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) of 27 or greater but no history of diabetes. Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide at a dose of 2.4 mg or placebo. The primary cardiovascular end point was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke in a time-to-first-event analysis. Safety was also assessed., Results: A total of 17,604 patients were enrolled; 8803 were assigned to receive semaglutide and 8801 to receive placebo. The mean (±SD) duration of exposure to semaglutide or placebo was 34.2±13.7 months, and the mean duration of follow-up was 39.8±9.4 months. A primary cardiovascular end-point event occurred in 569 of the 8803 patients (6.5%) in the semaglutide group and in 701 of the 8801 patients (8.0%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% confidence interval, 0.72 to 0.90; P<0.001). Adverse events leading to permanent discontinuation of the trial product occurred in 1461 patients (16.6%) in the semaglutide group and 718 patients (8.2%) in the placebo group (P<0.001)., Conclusions: In patients with preexisting cardiovascular disease and overweight or obesity but without diabetes, weekly subcutaneous semaglutide at a dose of 2.4 mg was superior to placebo in reducing the incidence of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke at a mean follow-up of 39.8 months. (Funded by Novo Nordisk; SELECT ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03574597.)., (Copyright © 2023 Massachusetts Medical Society.)

Importance: The effect of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) on the risk of prostate cancer and other adverse prostate events is unknown., Objective: To compare the effect of TRT vs placebo on the incidences of high-grade prostate cancers (Gleason score ≥4 + 3), any prostate cancer, acute urinary retention, invasive prostate procedures, and pharmacologic treatment for lower urinary tract symptoms in men with hypogonadism., Design, Setting, and Participants: This placebo-controlled, double-blind randomized clinical trial enrolled 5246 men (aged 45-80 years) from 316 US trial sites who had 2 testosterone concentrations less than 300 ng/dL, hypogonadal symptoms, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) or increased CVD risk. Men with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) concentrations greater than 3.0 ng/mL and International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) greater than 19 were excluded. Enrollment took place between May 23, 2018, and February 1, 2022, and end-of-study visits were conducted between May 31, 2022, and January 19, 2023., Intervention: Participants were randomized, with stratification for prior CVD, to topical 1.62% testosterone gel or placebo., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary prostate safety end point was the incidence of adjudicated high-grade prostate cancer. Secondary end points included incidence of any adjudicated prostate cancer, acute urinary retention, invasive prostate surgical procedure, prostate biopsy, and new pharmacologic treatment. Intervention effect was analyzed using a discrete-time proportional hazards model., Results: A total of 5204 men (mean [SD] age, 63.3 [7.9] years) were analyzed. At baseline, the mean (SD) PSA concentration was 0.92 (0.67) ng/mL, and the mean (SD) IPSS was 7.1 (5.6). The mean (SD) treatment duration as 21.8 (14.2) months in the TRT group and 21.6 (14.0) months in the placebo group. During 14 304 person-years of follow-up, the incidence of high-grade prostate cancer (5 of 2596 [0.19%] in the TRT group vs 3 of 2602 [0.12%] in the placebo group; hazard ratio, 1.62; 95% CI, 0.39-6.77; P = .51) did not differ significantly between groups; the incidences of any prostate cancer, acute urinary retention, invasive surgical procedures, prostate biopsy, and new pharmacologic treatment also did not differ significantly. Change in IPSS did not differ between groups. The PSA concentrations increased more in testosterone-treated than placebo-treated men., Conclusions and Relevance: In a population of middle-aged and older men with hypogonadism, carefully evaluated to exclude those at high risk of prostate cancer, the incidences of high-grade or any prostate cancer and other prostate events were low and did not differ significantly between testosterone- and placebo-treated men. The study's findings may facilitate a more informed appraisal of the potential risks of TRT., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03518034.

Importance: Testosterone deficiency causes mild anemia. Whether testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) can correct anemia or prevent the development of anemia in men with hypogonadism remains incompletely understood., Objective: To assess the efficacy of TRT in correcting anemia in men with hypogonadism and anemia, and reducing the risk of developing anemia in those without anemia., Design, Setting, and Participants: This randomized, placebo-controlled trial included men with hypogonadism at 316 US sites enrolled between May 2018 and February 2022. This study was nested within the Testosterone Replacement Therapy for Assessment of Long-term Vascular Events and Efficacy Response in Hypogonadal Men (TRAVERSE) Study, which evaluated the effect of TRT on major adverse cardiovascular events in middle-aged and older men with hypogonadism. Eligible participants were aged 45 to 80 years, with 2 testosterone concentration results below 300 ng/dL, hypogonadal symptoms, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) or increased CVD risk. The last study visit took place in January 2023. Data were analyzed between March and August 2023., Intervention: Participants were randomized with stratification for preexisting CVD to 1.62% testosterone gel or placebo gel daily for the study duration., Main Outcomes and Measures: Proportion of participants with anemia (hemoglobin below 12.7 g/dL) whose anemia remitted (hemoglobin 12.7 g/dL or above) over the study duration. Secondary end points included incidence of anemia among men who were not anemic. Binary end points were analyzed using repeated-measures log-binomial regression., Results: A total of 5204 men were included, 815 with anemia (mean [SD] age, 64.8 [7.7] years; 247 Black [30.3%], 544 White [66.7%], 24 other [2.9%]) and 4379 without anemia (mean [SD] age, 63.0 [7.9] years; 629 Black [14.4%], 3603 White [82.3%], 147 other [3.4%]). Anemia corrected in a significantly greater proportion of testosterone-treated than placebo-treated men at 6 months (143 of 349 [41.0%] vs 103 of 375 [27.5%]), 12 months (152 of 338 [45.0%] vs 122 of 360 [33.9%]), 24 months (124 of 290 [42.8%] vs 95 of 307 [30.9%]), 36 months (94 of 216 [43.5%] vs 76 of 229 [33.2%]), and 48 months (41 of 92 [44.6%] vs 38 of 97 [39.2%]) (P = .002). Among participants without anemia, a significantly smaller proportion of testosterone-treated men developed anemia than placebo-treated men. Changes in hemoglobin were associated with changes in energy level., Conclusions and Relevance: In middle-aged and older men with hypogonadism and anemia, TRT was more efficacious than placebo in correcting anemia. Among men who were not anemic, a smaller proportion of testosterone-treated men developed anemia than placebo-treated men., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03518034.

Background: The cardiovascular safety of testosterone-replacement therapy in middle-aged and older men with hypogonadism has not been determined., Methods: In a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, noninferiority trial, we enrolled 5246 men 45 to 80 years of age who had preexisting or a high risk of cardiovascular disease and who reported symptoms of hypogonadism and had two fasting testosterone levels of less than 300 ng per deciliter. Patients were randomly assigned to receive daily transdermal 1.62% testosterone gel (dose adjusted to maintain testosterone levels between 350 and 750 ng per deciliter) or placebo gel. The primary cardiovascular safety end point was the first occurrence of any component of a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke, assessed in a time-to-event analysis. A secondary cardiovascular end point was the first occurrence of any component of the composite of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or coronary revascularization, assessed in a time-to-event analysis. Noninferiority required an upper limit of less than 1.5 for the 95% confidence interval of the hazard ratio among patients receiving at least one dose of testosterone or placebo., Results: The mean (±SD) duration of treatment was 21.7±14.1 months, and the mean follow-up was 33.0±12.1 months. A primary cardiovascular end-point event occurred in 182 patients (7.0%) in the testosterone group and in 190 patients (7.3%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.96; 95% confidence interval, 0.78 to 1.17; P<0.001 for noninferiority). Similar findings were observed in sensitivity analyses in which data on events were censored at various times after discontinuation of testosterone or placebo. The incidence of secondary end-point events or of each of the events of the composite primary cardiovascular end point appeared to be similar in the two groups. A higher incidence of atrial fibrillation, of acute kidney injury, and of pulmonary embolism was observed in the testosterone group., Conclusions: In men with hypogonadism and preexisting or a high risk of cardiovascular disease, testosterone-replacement therapy was noninferior to placebo with respect to the incidence of major adverse cardiac events. (Funded by AbbVie and others; TRAVERSE ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03518034.)., (Copyright © 2023 Massachusetts Medical Society.)

Importance: The effects of bempedoic acid on cardiovascular outcomes in statin-intolerant patients without a prior cardiovascular event (primary prevention) have not been fully described., Objective: To determine the effects of bempedoic acid on cardiovascular outcomes in primary prevention patients., Design, Setting, and Participants: This masked, randomized clinical trial enrolled 13 970 statin-intolerant patients (enrollment December 2016 to August 2019 at 1250 centers in 32 countries), including 4206 primary prevention patients., Interventions: Participants were randomized to oral bempedoic acid, 180 mg daily (n = 2100), or matching placebo (n = 2106)., Main Outcome Measures: The primary efficacy measure was the time from randomization to the first occurrence of any component of a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), nonfatal stroke, or coronary revascularization., Results: Mean participant age was 68 years, 59% were female, and 66% had diabetes. From a mean baseline of 142.2 mg/dL, compared with placebo, bempedoic acid reduced low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels by 30.2 mg/dL (21.3%) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels by 0.56 mg/L (21.5%), from a median baseline of 2.4 mg/L. Follow-up for a median of 39.9 months was associated with a significant risk reduction for the primary end point (111 events [5.3%] vs 161 events [7.6%]; adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 0.70 [95% CI, 0.55-0.89]; P = .002) and key secondary end points, including the composite of cardiovascular death, MI, or stroke (83 events [4.0%] vs 134 events [6.4%]; HR, 0.64 [95% CI, 0.48-0.84]; P < .001); MI (29 events [1.4%] vs 47 events [2.2%]; HR, 0.61 [95% CI, 0.39-0.98]); cardiovascular death (37 events [1.8%] vs 65 events [3.1%]; HR, 0.61 [95% CI, 0.41-0.92]); and all-cause mortality (75 events [3.6%] vs 109 events [5.2%]; HR, 0.73 [95% CI, 0.54-0.98]). There was no significant effect on stroke or coronary revascularization. Adverse effects with bempedoic acid included a higher incidence of gout (2.6% vs 2.0%), cholelithiasis (2.5% vs 1.1%), and increases in serum creatinine, uric acid, and hepatic enzyme levels., Conclusions: In a subgroup of high-risk primary prevention patients, bempedoic acid treatment was associated with reduced major cardiovascular events., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02993406.

Background The effectiveness of vascular closure devices (VCDs) to reduce bleeding after transfemoral percutaneous coronary intervention remains unsettled. Methods and Results Participants in the REGULATE-PCI (Effect of the REG1 anticoagulation system versus bivalirudin on outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention) trial who underwent transfemoral percutaneous coronary intervention with VCD implantation were compared with those who underwent manual compression. The primary effectiveness end point was type 2, 3, or 5 Bleeding Academic Research Consortium access site bleeding at day 3. Univariate and multivariate analyses were adjusted by the inverse probability weighting method using propensity score. Time to hemostasis and time to ambulation were compared between groups. Of the 1580 patients who underwent transfemoral percutaneous coronary intervention, 1004 (63.5%) underwent VCD implantation and 576 (36.5%) had manual compression. The primary effectiveness end point occurred in 64 (6.4%) participants in the VCD group and in 38 (6.6%) participants in the manual compression group (inverse probability weighting-adjusted odds ratio, 1.02 [95% CI, 0.77-1.36]; P =0.89). There were statistically significant 2-way interactions between VCD use and female sex, chronic kidney disease, and use of high-potency P2Y12 inhibition (ticagrelor or prasugrel) ( P <0.05 for all) with less bleeding with VCD use in these high-risk subgroups. Median time to hemostasis and time to ambulation were shorter in the VCD versus the manual compression group ( P <0.01 for both). Conclusions Following transfemoral percutaneous coronary intervention, VCD use is associated with a shorter time to hemostasis and time to ambulation but not less bleeding. Further study of patients with high-bleeding risk is required, including women, patients with chronic kidney disease, and those using high-potency P2Y12 inhibitors. Registration URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01848106; Unique identifier: NCT01848106.

Objective: This paper describes the baseline characteristics of the Semaglutide Effects on Heart Disease and Stroke in Patients with Overweight or Obesity (SELECT) study, one of the largest cardiovascular (CV) outcome studies in the field of obesity, which evaluates the effect of semaglutide versus placebo on major CV events., Methods: SELECT enrolled individuals with overweight or obesity without diabetes, with prior myocardial infarction, stroke, and/or peripheral artery disease. This study reports participants' baseline characteristics in the full study population and subgroups defined by baseline glycated hemoglobin (HbA 1c ; <5.7%, ≥5.7 to <6.0%, ≥6.0 to <6.5%), baseline waist to height ratio tertile, and qualifying prior CV event or condition., Results: The study enrolled 17,605 participants (72.5% male) with an average (SD) age of 61.6 (8.9) years and BMI of 33.34 (5.04) kg/m 2 . The most common prior CV event was myocardial infarction (76.3% of participants), followed by stroke (23.3%) and peripheral artery disease (8.6%). Furthermore, 24.3% had a heart failure diagnosis. Two-thirds of participants (66%) had HbA 1c in the prediabetes range (5.7%-6.4%). Across groups of increasing HbA 1c , prevalence of all CV risk factors increased., Conclusions: The enrolled population in SELECT includes participants across a broad range of relevant risk categories. This will allow the study to garner information about the CV benefits of semaglutide across these relevant clinical subgroups., (© 2022 The Authors. Obesity published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Obesity Society.)

Background: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) agonists may have favorable outcomes on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This study serves as proof of concept to evaluate whether dual PPAR-α/γ agonists improve non-invasive tests of liver steatosis and fibrosis., Methods: This is a post-hoc analysis of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center trial comprising 7226 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and recent coronary artery disease randomized to receive aleglitazar, a PPAR-α/γ agonists, or placebo for two years. Main outcomes were change in non-invasive tests for liver steatosis and fibrosis: Liver Fat Score (LFS), Liver Accumulation Product (LAP), Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4), and NAFLD Fibrosis Score (NFS)., Results: LFS, LAP and FIB-4 decreased upon treatment, whereas scores in the placebo group remained the same or increased (P<0.001). NFS responded differently but remained consistently lower than placebo. In the treatment group more participants shifted to a lower FIB-4 and NFS category, or improved in respect to the LAP cut-off values compared to the placebo group (P<0.001 for FIB-4 and LAP, P<0.004 for NFS). LFS had a low discriminative power in this study., Conclusion: This post-hoc analysis showed improvement of non-invasive tests of liver steatosis and fibrosis after starting dual PPAR-α/γ agonist treatment, adding to the evidence that this pathway has potential in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease treatment., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2022 Grobbee et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background Compared with White Americans, Black Americans have a greater prevalence of cardiac events following percutaneous coronary intervention. We evaluated the association between race and neighborhood income on post-percutaneous coronary intervention cardiac events and assessed whether income modifies the effect of race on this relationship. Methods and Results Consecutive patients (n=23 822) treated with percutaneous coronary intervention from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2016, were included. All-cause mortality and major adverse cardiac event were assessed at 3 years. Extended 10-year follow-up was performed for those residing locally (n=1285). Neighborhood income was derived using median adjusted annual gross household income reported within the patient's zip code. We compared differences in treatment and outcomes, adjusting for race, income, and their interaction. In total, 3173 (13.3%) patients self-identified as Black Americans, and 20 649 (86.7%) self-identified as White Americans. Black Americans had a worse baseline cardiac risk profile and lower neighborhood income compared with White Americans. Although risk profile improved with increasing income in White Americans, no difference was observed across incomes among Black Americans. Despite similar long-term outpatient cardiology follow-up and medication prescription, risk profiles among Black Americans remained worse. At 3 years, unadjusted all-cause mortality (18.0% versus 15.2%; P <0.001) and major adverse cardiac event (37.3% versus 34.6%; P <0.001) were greater among Black Americans and with lower income (both P <0.001); race, income, and their interaction were not significant predictors in multivariable models. At 10-year follow-up, increasing income was associated with improved outcomes only in White Americans but not Black Americans. In multivariable models for major adverse cardiac event, income (hazard ratio [HR], 0.97 [95% CI, 0.96-0.98]; P =0.005), Black race (HR, 1.77 [95% CI, 1.58-1.96]; P =0.006), and their interaction (HR, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.97-0.99]; P =0.003) were significant predictors. Similar findings were observed for cardiac death. Conclusions Early 3-year post-percutaneous coronary intervention outcomes were driven by worse risk factor profiles in both Black Americans and those with lower neighborhood income. However, late 10-year outcomes showed an independent effect of race and income, with improving outcomes with greater income limited to White Americans. These findings illustrate the importance of developing novel care strategies that address both risk factor modification and social determinants of health to mitigate disparities in cardiac outcomes.

The relation between serial high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and long-term major cardiovascular events (MACEs; cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, coronary revascularization, hospitalization for unstable angina) has not been explored in optimally-treated patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. We tested the hypothesis that longitudinal follow-up hsCRP (repeated measures over time) would associate with 30-month MACE rates. We performed a post hoc analysis of ACCELERATE (Assessment of Clinical Effects of Cholesteryl Ester Transfer Protein Inhibitor with Evacetrapib in Patients with High-Risk for Vascular Outcomes), involving optimally-treated patients with high-risk vascular disease, with available baseline and at least 1 follow-up hsCRP level. Using multivariable Cox proportional hazard models, we determined the association of longitudinal follow-up hsCRP with MACE at 30 months among 8,563 patients (aged 64.6 ± 9 years, 22% women). Patients with incident MACE (n = 961) had higher baseline hsCRP levels (1.77 vs 1.46 mg/L, p &lt;0.0001 for patients with and without MACE, respectively) and showed an upward trajectory during follow-up, whereas median hsCRP levels remained &lt;2 mg/L at all time points (1.83 vs 1.53 mg/L, 1.91 vs 1.53 mg/L, 1.76 vs 1.37 mg/L, at 3, 12, and 24 months, respectively). In a multivariable analysis, higher longitudinal hsCRP levels were independently associated with MACE (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval] per SD 1.19 [1.10 to 1.29], p &lt;0.001), the majority of its individual components and all-cause death. Multivariable models containing longitudinal hsCRP provided improved predictive ability of MACE over baseline hsCRP. In the setting of established medical therapies, longitudinal follow-up hsCRP was independently associated with long-term MACE. In conclusion, these findings suggest that longitudinal hsCRP represents a novel approach of residual cardiovascular risk even when on-treatment hsCRP levels remain &lt;2 mg/L., Competing Interests: Disclosures Dr. Nissen reported receiving grants from AstraZeneca, Novartis, AbbVie, Silence Therapeutics, Medtronic, MyoKardia, Esperion, Eli Lilly, Amgen, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Cerenis, and The Medicines Company. Dr. Lincoff reports receiving grants from AstraZeneca, Esperion, Novartis, CSL, and AbbVie and personal fees from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Dr. Nicholls reported receiving grants from AstraZeneca, Amgen, Anthera, Eli Lilly, Esperion, Novartis, Cerenis, the Medicines Company, Resverlogix, InfraReDx, Roche, Sanofi-Regeneron, and LipoScience and receiving personal fees from AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Anthera, Omthera, Merck, Takeda, Resverlogix, Sanofi-Regeneron, CSL Behring, Esperion, and Boehringer Ingelheim. The remaining authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)