New Targets in the Drug Treatment of Heart Failure

Abstract

Heart failure is a complex syndrome that has been a major contributor to readmissions into hospitals in the USA. Currently, a large number of medications are being used to treat the symptoms of the disease-digoxin, diuretics, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors, β-blockers, and vasodilators. There is no doubt that the given pharmaceutical therapy has been effective in lowering hospital readmission rates and prolonging life in individual chronic heart failure patients. Despite this, admission rates following heart failure hospitalization remain high, resulting in a substantial financial strain on healthcare institutions. Clearly, there is much room for improvement in heart failure therapy and management in reducing readmission rates. In this review, we address the unmet needs in the current drug treatment of chronic heart failure and describe novel drug targets that are currently under investigation.