Making Breakthroughs in Heart Disease

Since 1921, heart disease has been the leading cause of death in the United States.

Today, there are about 92.1 million American adults living with some form of cardiovascular disease, which includes heart disease and stroke. The American Heart Association estimates that cardiovascular disease accounts for about one of every three deaths in the United States each year, with someone dying every 40 seconds.

However, these numbers are improving rapidly. Behavioral and lifestyle changes alongside innovative treatments advances. Deaths from heart disease have dropped from 412 (per 100,000 population) in 1980 to just 168 in 2015, and in 2013, after being the third or fourth leading cause of death for 75 years, stroke moved to the fifth spot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

America’s biopharmaceutical researchers are committed to driving continued progress against these devastating conditions, with 200 new medicines in clinical development for cardiovascular disease.

Among the 200 medicines in development include:

• 42 new medicines for heart failure, which affects about 6.5 million Americans.
• 23 new medicines for stroke, which remains the leading cause of serious long-term disability in the U.S.
• 20 new medicines for peripheral vascular diseases, including critical limb ischemia, intermittent claudication and peripheral artery disease (PAD).
• 13 medicines for thrombosis, a condition characterized by coagulation or clotting of the blood in the veins or arteries (circulatory system).
  
  

The medicines in the development pipeline today are continuing the already remarkable progress against cardiovascular diseases, and hold immense promise for patients living with these conditions. For additional information about the important work being done for cardiovascular diseases, check out the recent Medicines in Development: Heart Disease and Stroke report.