RESEARCHERS in Bradford have launched a cutting-edge trial which could save the lives of patients who have suffered heart attacks.
The study is being run under the auspices of the newly-established National Institute for Health Research Patient Recruitment Centre (PRC), which is hosted by Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and run by the Bradford Institute for Health Research (BIHR), which is based at BRI.
This is the latest research trial for PRC Bradford, one of five national PRCs set up across England, and made possible thanks to a £7 million Government investment.
The late-phase ‘DAPA-MI’ clinical research trial evaluates AstraZeneca’s drug, Farxiga (dapagliflozin) as a treatment to reduce mortality and the risk of heart failure following a heart attack.
Consultant Cardiologist, Dr Steven Lindsay is leading the study in Bradford.
He said: “The drug has already been used successfully to treat diabetes and in non-diabetic patients with heart failure but this new study looks into its effectiveness in the treatment of patients who suffer a heart attack. The trial will evaluate how effective dapagliflozin is in preventing those patients from then going on to develop heart failure or even dying.
Important study
“This is an important study and we are pleased to be taking part. As a Trust and as a newly-established PRC, it’s important that we are actively involved in cutting-edge clinical research and that we can offer our patients the chance to have access to research.
“This is a placebo-controlled, randomised clinical trial so that neither participants nor investigators will know whether they receive the drug or the placebo.”
Dr Lindsay is being aided in the trial by fellow Consultant Cardiologist, Dr Jivendra Gosai.
He added that the trial was a multi-national study, conducted in collaboration with the Uppsala Clinical Research Center (UCR) in Sweden, and that Bradford was one of 50 centres across the UK to be taking part. National registries of patients in both Sweden and the UK would also be used to collect data on participants.
“Most people who have had a heart attack will be included in these registries so having this data will improve the efficiency of data collection. This is a new way of collecting data for participants in a clinical trial. We will be inviting any suitable patient who comes into hospital for treatment, having suffered a heart attack, to take part in the trial.
“We see around 700 to 800 patients with heart attacks here at the Trust every year. Participants will have to meet a number of criteria; for example they cannot have diabetes or already have had a diagnosis of heart failure.
Participants
“We are pleased that we have now recruited our first participants in Bradford,” he said.
The trial is expected to run from between 18 months to two years, and Dr Lindsay said PRC Bradford was aiming to recruit at least one participant a week, or around 70 in total.
The UK national principal investigator for the trial is Professor Robert Storey of the University of Sheffield.
Director of PRC Bradford, Professor Dinesh Saralaya said: “I am delighted that our Cardiology Research Team headed by Dr Lindsay, is able to bring this very important study to the city of Bradford to help our patients. It is a testament to the team’s excellent research ability and I’m proud that the PRC is able to help facilitate this vital research.”
PRC Bradford’s other trials to date are the Gilead study investigating the efficacy of the drug Remdesivir in patients with COVID-19 and the late-phase Novavax COVID-19 vaccine trial, which was hugely successful and recruited more than 720 participants, making Bradford the third highest recruiting centre in the UK.
ENDS