Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prescription of sacubitril/valsartan in Italy.

Abstract

AimsThe present study sought to examine the effect of the COVID‐19 pandemic and lockdown measures on the prescription of sacubitril/valsartan in patients with heart failure (HF) in Italy.Methods and resultsData from Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) monitoring registries were analysed. The sacubitril/valsartan monitoring registry is based on 6‐month prescriptions. A monthly aggregation on new activations throughout the observational period was computed. From March to December 2020, the initiation of new HF patients on sacubitril/valsartan decreased by nearly 40% with prescriptions dropping to values similar to 2018 when the registry was still operated off‐line. A slight increase in prescriptions was observed after the lockdown measures were lifted, but prescriptions remained constantly below the pre‐lockdown period.ConclusionA marked and worrisome decline during the COVID‐19 pandemic in the activation of a life‐saving treatment such as sacubitril/valsartan was observed. This decline was clearly linked to the lockdown measures instated to counteract the COVID‐19 pandemic. Upcoming studies should analyse the occurrence of new cases of HF as well as the severity of patients admitted to hospitals and their mortality compared to pre‐pandemic levels.