Heart Failure

Heart failure occurs when the heart is no longer able to pump blood sufficient for the body’s needs. People with HF suffer from shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, edema, reduced exercise capacity, and often struggle with simple daily activities. They are frequently hospitalized and for many, these symptoms significantly reduce quality of life.

 

Normal Heart Function

 

Two Types of Heart Failure

 

Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), also known as systolic heart failure, results from reduced contraction of the left ventricle such that not enough blood is pumped into the circulation. In heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), also known as diastolic heart failure, the left ventricle becomes stiff and does not relax normally. As a result, it cannot fill and pressure begins to increase in the left heart chambers and in the lungs. The increased pressure in the lungs is the cause of shortness of breath.

HFpEF is associated with several co-morbidities including obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and older age. It is thought that HFpEF involves activation of the coronary micro-vascular endothelium (the lining of the small blood vessels in the heart) driven by a systemic pro-inflammatory state resulting from these co-morbidities. This systemic inflammation-induced endothelial dysfunction and activation leads to leakage of inflammatory cells from the circulation into the cardiac tissue. The subsequent production of a series of cytokines and increased oxidative stress leads to increased fibrosis, stiffness, and may impair cardiac contractile cell function.

There are no treatments for heart failure specifically targeting inflammation and fibrosis. Cardiol is dedicated to improving patients’ outcomes with innovative formulations that target these pathological processes in the heart, particularly for treating HFpEF.

Subcutaneous Cannabidiol Formulation

Cardiol is developing a proprietary subcutaneous formulation of cannabidiol to achieve higher bioavailability. This subcutaneous formulation would be a new approach to the treatment of chronic heart failure based on the anti-inflammatory activity of cannabidiol to treat inflamed heart tissue and the anti-fibrotic activity of cannabidiol to treat fibrosis (scarring) in heart muscle.

Published third-party research has shown that cannabidiol reduces inflammatory activation of the endothelial lining of blood vessels and aids endothelial vasorelaxation, resulting in improved blood flow. Cannabidiol has also been shown to attenuate a number of measures of inflammation in models of diabetes, a common co-morbidity in heart failure patients, and to reduce myocardial fibrosis in a model of inflammatory heart disease. Cardiol’s subcutaneous administration of cannabidiol is designed to avoid first-pass metabolism, optimize and maintain blood levels of the drug, and target inflammation and increased fibrosis in the heart. Cardiol believes that by enhancing the bioavailability will significantly broaden the therapeutic potential of this molecule.