Novartis: RLX030 reduced deaths in patients with acute heart failure

Novartis' Phase III study results show that investigational RLX030, or serelaxin, reduced all-cause mortality in patients with acute heart failure, or AHF. The six-month RELAX-AHF study shows that RLX030 reduces the number of deaths in patients with this disease, which has a higher mortality rate than most other cardiovascular diseases. The study will be presented at the American Heart Association, or AHA, congress in Los Angeles in November, 2012. Novartis will initiate discussions of the results of this single Phase III study with health authorities worldwide shortly. RLX030 is the first in a new class of medicines and is a recombinant form of the human hormone relaxin-2 which occurs naturally in both men and women.