First Non-Steroidal MRA Drug Approved for Heart Failure with Dr. Alanna Morris-Simon Bayer
Release Date: 02/09/2026
First Non-Steroidal MRA Drug Approved for Heart Failure with Dr. Alanna Morris-Simon Bayer TRANSCRIPT
Empowered Patient Podcast
Dr. Alanna Morris-Simon, Senior Medical Director for US Medical Affairs at Bayer, describes the symptoms and diagnostics used to classify heart failure and the key at-risk populations for this condition. The rapidly evolving landscape of heart failure treatments now includes the Bayer drug KERENDIA, a non-steroidal MRA approved to reduce cardiovascular death and heart failure in adults with an ejection fraction of 40% or more. This drug is part of an emerging trend to treat multiple related conditions simultaneously and could prevent the onset of heart failure and treat established...
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First Non-Steroidal MRA Drug Approved for Heart Failure with Dr. Alanna Morris-Simon Bayer
Empowered Patient Podcast
Dr. Alanna Morris-Simon, Senior Medical Director for US Medical Affairs at Bayer, describes the symptoms and diagnostics used to classify heart failure and the key at-risk populations for this condition. The rapidly evolving landscape of heart failure treatments now includes the Bayer drug KERENDIA, a non-steroidal MRA approved to reduce cardiovascular death and heart failure in adults with an ejection fraction of 40% or more. This drug is part of an emerging trend to treat multiple related conditions simultaneously and could prevent the onset of heart failure and treat established...
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AI-Powered Virtual Tumor Boards Democratize Access to Expert Cancer Analysis with Steve Brown and Lisa Booth CureWise
Empowered Patient Podcast
Steve Brown, Founder and CEO and Lisa Booth, Vice President of Operations of CureWise, are both cancer survivors, which led them to develop an AI-powered tumor board platform to advance cancer diagnoses and treatment. This approach to precision medicine provides patients with the opportunity to better understand their specific condition, educating them about possible courses of action that may be more appropriate than the standard of care. The platform also helps patients find relevant clinical trials and manage the side effects of their treatments. Steve explains, "So the mission...
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Effectively Treating Rare Epileptic Disorder Dravet Syndrome with Nayla Chaijale UCB
Empowered Patient Podcast
Nayla Chaijale, Medical Strategy Lead for Rare Syndromes at UCB, describes Dravet syndrome, a rare, medication-resistant epileptic encephalopathy that involves seizures and significant co-morbidities like cognitive and developmental delays. Their approved drug FINTEPLA has a unique mechanism of action that modulates pathways in the brain and has demonstrated a significant reduction in the frequency of convulsive seizures in those with this condition. Nayla notes that the good news is that most patients with Dravet syndrome have a mutation in the SCN1A gene, a critical biomarker that...
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AI Platform Facilitating Improved Accessibility to Clinical Trials with Vanessa Lemarié myTomorrows
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Vanessa Lemarié, Chief Operations Officer at myTomorrows, which is a platform for connecting patients, physicians, and clinical trial sponsors using a Trial Search AI tool designed to improve the accuracy of matching patients with suitable trials. The technology aims to speed up trial recruitment, increase diversity by reaching underserved populations, and ultimately shorten the drug development timeline. There is a particular focus on patients with no treatment options or who have not responded to current therapies. Vanessa explains, "We are all about patients. First and foremost, we want...
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Providing Access to Uncovered Specialty Medications with Paul Pruitt SHARx
Empowered Patient Podcast
Paul Pruitt, Chief Growth Officer at SHARx, which is a company that partners with employers to provide access to drugs not covered by insurance, such as specialty medications. The SHARx model acts as a complementary service to existing Pharmacy Benefit Managers and allows employers to opt out of covering the most expensive drugs. Paul's personal experience managing his sons' rare condition and navigating the administrative burden and frustration of the insurance system gives him deep insights into the factors driving up the cost of medications. Paul explains, "When we started SHARx eight...
info_outlineDr. Alanna Morris-Simon, Senior Medical Director for US Medical Affairs at Bayer, describes the symptoms and diagnostics used to classify heart failure and the key at-risk populations for this condition. The rapidly evolving landscape of heart failure treatments now includes the Bayer drug KERENDIA, a non-steroidal MRA approved to reduce cardiovascular death and heart failure in adults with an ejection fraction of 40% or more. This drug is part of an emerging trend to treat multiple related conditions simultaneously and could prevent the onset of heart failure and treat established heart failure.
Alanna explains, "At a basic level, heart failure is a clinical syndrome, and that's important. I'm actually a heart failure cardiologist as well. And so this is important because patients have to have signs and symptoms. And those signs and symptoms really result from the heart being unable to either fill with blood properly or squeeze that blood out in a way that meets the body's demands. Either way, patients experience the same symptoms, and those include symptoms like swelling and weight gain, shortness of breath, either at rest or with activity, fatigue, abdominal swelling and bloating, loss of appetite, as well as other symptoms."
"If a doctor or a clinician suspects a diagnosis of heart failure, 99.99% of the time, they'll start by ordering an echocardiogram or a heart ultrasound. Of course, the guidelines tell us to get a chest X-ray, get labs, those sorts of things. But really, we make the diagnosis for the most part based on the results of an echocardiogram because that echocardiogram allows us to visualize how the heart is pumping. It allows us to classify the type of heart failure so that if we see that the squeeze of the heart is impaired, we call that heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. And that's when the ejection fraction or EF is 40% or less. If the EF is in the 41 to 49% range, we classify that as heart failure with mildly reduced ejection fraction. And if patients have an ejection fraction of 50% or greater, we call that heart failure with preserved ejection fraction or HFpEF."
"And we were excited that the FDA actually granted a priority review for KERENDIA because this really only occurs when the FDA recognizes that a treatment can fill a significant unmet need for a disease or a population of patients. And lo and behold, in July of 2025, finerenone was approved by the FDA under the trade name KERENDIA to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death, hospitalization for heart failure, and urgent heart failure visits in adults with an ejection fraction of 40% or more."
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