Consistent Efficacy of Vutrisiran Across Sexes in Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis: Evidence from the HELIOS-B Trial
Abstract Aims Sex differences in transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR-CM) are increasingly recognised; however, women are underrepresented in trials and sex-specific treatment effects remain incompletely understood. We evaluated sex differences in baseline phenotype, outcomes and vutrisiran response in ATTR-CM. Methods HELIOS-B was a phase 3, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial enrolling patients with wild-type or variant ATTR-CM, randomised 1:1 to receive subcutaneous vutrisiran (25 mg every 12 weeks) or placebo. This prespecified analysis assessed baseline characteristics, efficacy, and safety according to sex. Results Among 654 participants, 49 (7.5%) were women. Variant ATTR-CM was more prevalent in women (42.9% vs 9.1%, p < 0.001). At baseline, women had smaller absolute left ventricular dimensions and wall thicknesses (p < 0.05), but when indexed to body surface area, wall thicknesses were higher. Women demonstrated better systolic function, but worse 6-minute walk distances and quality-of-life scores. Vutrisiran reduced the primary composite endpoint of all-cause mortality and recurrent cardiovascular events in both sexes (women, HR 0.59, 95% CI 0.26–1.30; men, HR 0.71, 95% CI 0.54–0.94; p-interaction = 0.66). Confidence intervals were wide in women, reflecting limited precision from small subgroup size. Mortality reduction was observed in both sexes (HR 0.56, 95% CI 0.14–2.34 in women, HR 0.65, 95% CI 0.46–0.90 in men, p-interaction = 0.91 for all-cause mortality at 42 months). Decline in 6-minute walk distance and quality-of-life scores was attenuated in both sexes, with no statistically detectable sex-specific interaction, and safety outcomes were comparable. Conclusion Women with ATTR-CM demonstrated a distinct baseline phenotype in HELIOS-B. Despite this, vutrisiran showed no statistically detectable heterogeneity of treatment effect by sex within the limits of statistical power, supporting therapeutic benefit across the phenotypic spectrum of ATTR-CM.
Authors
- Arielle Abovich
- Rocío Eirós (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9488-2555)
- Marianna Fontana (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9233-9831)
- Scott David Solomon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3698-9597)
- Karola Jering (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5243-1959)
- Tomoko Ishizu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3794-899X)
- Xiaowen Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4623-1608)
- Amira Zaroui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4827-4057)
- Sarah A M Cuddy
- Josephine Mansell
- Brian Claggett
- Patrick Y Jay
- Julian Gillmore
Institutions
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (United States) (US)
- University of Tsukuba (JP)
- Universidad de Salamanca (ES)
- Amyloidosis Foundation (US)
- Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Salamanca (ES)
- Roland Hill (United Kingdom) (GB)
- University College London (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- European Journal of Heart Failure
- Published
- 2026-06-25
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/ejhf/xuag208
- Primary Topic
- Amyloidosis: Diagnosis, Treatment, Outcomes
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00