Hemoglobin and Clinical Outcomes in the VerICiguaT Global Study in Patients With Heart Failure and Reduced Ejection Fraction (VICTORIA).

Background: In the VICTORIA trial, anemia occurred more often in patients treated with vericiguat (7.6%) than placebo (5.7%). We explored the association between vericiguat, randomization hemoglobin, development of anemia and whether the benefit of vericiguat related to baseline hemoglobin. Methods: Anemia was defined as hemoglobin <13.0 g/dL in men and <12.0 g/dL in women (World Health Organization [WHO] Anemia). Adverse events (AEs) reported as anemia were also evaluated. We assessed the risk-adjusted relationship between hemoglobin and hematocrit with the primary outcome (composite of cardiovascular death or heart failure hospitalization), and the time-updated hemoglobin relationship to outcomes. Results: At baseline, 1719 (35.7%) had WHO anemia; median hemoglobin was 13.4 g/L (25th, 75th percentile: 12.1, 14.7 g/dL). At 16 weeks from randomization, 1643 patients had WHO anemia (284 new for vericiguat and 219 for placebo), which occurred more often with vericiguat than placebo (p<0.001). After 16 weeks, no further decline in hemoglobin occurred over 96 weeks of follow-up and the ratio of hemoglobin/hematocrit remained constant. Overall, AE anemia occurred in 342 patients (7.1%). A lower hemoglobin was unrelated to the treatment benefit of vericiguat (vs. placebo) on the primary outcome. Additionally, analysis of time-updated hemoglobin revealed no association with the treatment effect of vericiguat (vs. placebo) on the primary outcome. Conclusions: Anemia was common at randomization and lower hemoglobin was associated with a greater frequency of clinical events. Although vericiguat modestly lowered hemoglobin by 16 weeks, this effect did not further progress nor was it related to the treatment benefit of vericiguat. Clinical Trial Registration: Clinical Trials.gov (NCT02861534).