Swiss pharmacuetical company Roche Holding AG (ROG.VX) said Friday active enrollment into a heart failure therapy study has been stopped early based on a positive interim analysis.

MAIN FACTS:

- PROTECT, a prospective randomized trial comparing a strategy of aggressive heart failure therapy guided by levels of a cardiac hormone-amino-terminal pro-B type natriuretic peptide-versus standard heart failure treatment without NT-proBNP guidance has been enrolling subjects in the Heart Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital since 2006.

- The positive interim analysis suggests a strategy of NT-proBNP guided heart failure care was independently associated with a significant reduction in total cardiovascular events, the primary endpoint of the study, which included relevant cardiac outcomes, such as worsening heart failure, heart failure hospitalization, and cardiovascular death.

- Tests for NT-proBNP, a cardiac hormone that is released into the blood when the heart wall is stretched, are developed and marketed by Roche. NT-proBNP was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as an objective marker for the diagnosis and prognosis of heart failure as well as the risk assessment in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

- The trial is now closed. Final patient visits will be carried out and final data will be collected to allow a full analysis. Final results of the study will be presented and published in 2010, once the analysis is complete.

Company Web site: http://www.roche.com

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