Dapagliflozin for Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction: Will the DELIVER Study Deliver?

Drug therapies for people with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) are often limited to diuretics to improve symptoms as no therapies demonstrate a mortality benefit in this cohort. People with diabetes have a high risk of developing HFpEF and vice versa, suggesting shared pathophysiological mechanisms exist, which in turn engenders the potential for shared treatments. Dapagliflozin is a sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor which has demonstrated significantly improved cardiovascular and hospitalisation for heart failure (HHF) outcomes in previous cardiovascular outcome trials (CVOTs). These CVOTs include the DECLARE-TIMI and DAPA-HF studies which observed significant benefits for people with heart failure and specifically those with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), respectively. The ongoing DELIVER study is evaluating the use of dapagliflozin specifically in people with HFpEF, which may have enormous implications for treatment and considerable economic consequences. This will complement previous and other ongoing CVOTs evaluating dapagliflozin use. In this review we discuss the use of SGLT2 inhibitors in HFrEF and HFpEF with a focus on the DELIVER study and its potential health and economic implications.