Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases

Novartis has a longstanding commitment to cardiovascular and metabolic disease, and has developed major medicines in the field including the angiotensin receptor blocker, valsartan for hypertension, and the DPPIV inhibitor, vildagliptin, for diabetes. Despite a wide range of medicines available for cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, these diseases remain the number one cause of death in the developed world, and prevalence is increasing rapidly in developing nations. Our Cardiovascular and Metabolic (CVM) research focuses on discovering and developing innovative mechanism-based compounds for novel targets in relevant disease processes.

Our CVM strategy is to go beyond current palliative therapies or lifestyle modifiers and directly address the pathobiology at the site of disease. The primary goal is to identify and develop true disease modifying therapies that preserve or restore beta cell function, preserve cardiac function, restore vascular function, protect from renal damage, and reduce cardiovascular mortality.

Our CVM research concentrates on dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis and vascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias and associated disorders.

 

Selected publications

Common genetic variation in multiple metabolic pathways influences susceptibility to low HDL-cholesterol and coronary artery disease. Peloso, G.M., Demissie, S., Collins, D., Mirel, D.B., Gabriel, S.B., Cupples, L.A., Robins, S.J., Schaefer, E.J. & Brousseau, M.E. 2010. J Lipid Res 51(12): 3524-32.

Genome-Wide Association Analysis Identifies Loci for Type 2 Diabetes and Triglyceride Levels. Diabetes Genetics Initiative of Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Lund University, and Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. 2007. Science 316(5829): 1331-6.