By combining state-of-the-art genetic and genomic methods, the collaboration aims to uncover new signalling pathways and genetic correlations that could be crucial for the development of potential therapies.
Dilated cardiomyopathy affects many people, including young people. "There is currently no causal therapy for dilated cardiomyopathy. Patients often suffer from heart failure and are at risk of sudden cardiac death," says Dr. Farbod Sedaghat, clinical coordinator of the TORCH Registry and senior physician at the Heidelberg University Hospital (Director: Prof. Dr. Norbert Frey). In more than 70 per cent of cases, the exact cause of DCM remains unknown. The disease, in which the left ventricle is enlarged and weakened, leads to death in up to 30 percent of cases within ten years or requires a heart transplant.
Samples from the world's largest cardiomyopathy registry
The partnership will draw on the extensive sample material collected in the TORCH registry. The precision medicine registry, funded by the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), has been enrolling patients with various myocardial diseases at more than 20 sites in Germany for 11 years. It is the largest prospective registry of its kind in the world.
"With the help of our valuable knowledge about this heart muscle disease and the TORCH Registry, we want to jointly unravel the mystery of new disease mechanisms and find new targets for future therapies," says Prof. Dr. Benjamin Meder, Head of the TORCH Registry and the Institute for Cardiomyopathies Heidelberg.
"Novo Nordisk is committed to developing innovative treatments for cardiomyopathies and heart failure to bring these advances to patients. Through this collaboration, we aim to improve our understanding of heart disease and address its underlying causes in order to develop more effective treatment strategies," says Joanna Holbrook, Corporate Vice President for Cardio-Renal Therapy at Novo Nordisk.
Bringing together clinical and company expertise
The research collaboration will study data and samples from consenting DCM patients. Novo Nordisk, a leading healthcare company specialising in cardiometabolic diseases, is contributing extensive expertise to the project. Dr Yalda Jamshidi, Head of the Precision Medicine Team at Novo Nordisk's Centre of Excellence for Genetics, is looking forward to this exciting project. "This collaboration underlines the commitment of the DZHK, Heidelberg University Hospital and Novo Nordisk to make significant progress in understanding and treating this serious heart disease."
The collaboration will combine decades of experience and expertise in cardiomyopathy from the TORCH registry with Novo Nordisk's drug development know-how to develop new treatments for dilated cardiomyopathy. "The clinical need for innovative treatments for this and other cardiovascular diseases is immense. Together with Novo Nordisk, we want to get as close as possible to the causes in order to better understand the disease and, based on this, support drug development - for the benefit of our patients," says DZHK board spokesperson Prof. Stefanie Dimmeler.
The collaboration will initially provide new insights into the genetic causes of dilated cardiomyopathy, which can then be incorporated into the development of targeted drugs against the disease in due course.
Scientific contact: Prof. Benjamin Meder, Heidelberg University Hospital, Institute for Cardiomyopathies
