FDA Approves Amgen’s Heart Failure Drug
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Amgen’s heart failure drug, Corlanor (ivabradine), an oral medication Corlanor was developed by Les Laboratoires Servier. Through a collaboration with Servier, Amgen has rights to commercialize Corlanor in the US.
Corlanor is approved for use in certain people who have long-lasting (chronic) heart failure caused by the lower-left part of their heart not contracting well. The drug is indicated for patients who have symptoms of heart failure that are stable, a normal heartbeat with a resting heart rate of at least 70 beats per minute, and are also taking beta blockers at the highest dose they can tolerate.
Corlanor blocks the hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channel responsible for the cardiac pacemaker, which regulates heart rate. Corlanor reduces the spontaneous pacemaker activity of the cardiac sinus node by selectively inhibiting the so-called “funny” current to slow the heart rate with no effect on ventricular repolarization and no effects on myocardial contractility, according to Amgen.
