Development of vericiguat: The first soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) stimulator launched for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF)

Abstract

In recent years, with improvements in treatments for heart failure (HF), the survival period of patients has been extended. However, the emergence of some patients with repeated hospitalizations due to their worsening conditions and low survival rates followed. Currently, few drugs are available for such patients. Vericiguat was first drug approved for the treatment of symptomatic patients with chronic HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) to reduce the occurrence of worsening HF. This article provides comprehensive information about vericiguat in terms of drug design and development, structure-activity relationship (SAR), synthesis, pharmacological efficacy, and clinical practice. In addition, insights into the current vericiguat trials and treatments of HF are also discussed.

Keywords: Drug discovery; Heart failure (HF); Soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) stimulator; Structure-activity relationship (SAR); Vericiguat.