Look after your heart month 2023

The sad death at the young age of 54 of David Jolicoeur, otherwise known as Trugoy the Dove, one of the founders of hip hop legends De La Soul, has helped to highlight to a wider audience the profound impact that congestive heart failure can have. David was a long term sufferer from this disease.

At the start of Heart Month 2023, we also want to raise awareness, as congestive heart failure is less well known than it should be, given that heart failure is the leading cause of US hospitalizations in patients over 65 years old and 90% of these admissions are due to congestion, otherwise known as fluid overload. This is a condition that is caused by the body’s retention of sodium in heart failure, which then causes it to also hoard water to try and maintain homeostasis. The resultant fluid accumulation is incredibly debilitating as it weighs on patients’ other organs, leading to difficulty breathing – with patients frequently describing feeling like they are drowning.

Congestion in heart failure is typically, and often successfully, treated with diuretics, but approximately 40%, or 200,000, of US heart failure patients have diuretic-resistant congestion which requires repeated hospitalization. The cost of heart failure-related hospitalizations in the U.S. is estimated at $14.5 billion a year.

Our client, Sequana Medical, is developing a disease modifying heart failure therapy called Direct Sodium Removal or DSR to address this. They have demonstrated substantial long-lasting clinical benefits in decompensated heart failure patients with top-line data from their SAHARA study showing the safe, effective and rapid elimination of persistent congestion, important improvements in cardiovascular and renal health, and the restoration of diuretic response of the kidney.

With heart failure patient numbers forecast to grow substantially in the coming years, we are proud to be working with companies like Sequana Medical to help address patient needs and improve their quality of life.