chemistry

Vericiguat

Vericiguat is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Vericiguat rather than just read about it. In short: Vericiguat, sold under the brand name Verquvo, is a medication used to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death and hospitalization in certain patients with heart failure after a recent acute decompensation event. It is taken by mouth.

Key takeaways

Vericiguat belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Vericiguat to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Vericiguat from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Vericiguat, sold under the brand name Verquvo, is a medication used to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death and hospitalization in certain patients with heart failure after a recent acute decompensation event. It is taken by mouth. Vericiguat is a soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) stimulator. Common side effects include low blood pressure and low red cell count (anemia). It was approved for medical use in the United States in January 2021, and for use in the European Union in July 2021.

Medical uses Vericiguat is indicated to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death and hospitalization for heart failure following a prior hospitalization for heart failure or need for outpatient intravenous diuretics, in adults with symptomatic chronic heart failure and an ejection fraction of less than 45% (HFrEF). Vericiguat is usually given orally once every day with food. No dose adjustments are required in the elderly, in people with mild-to-moderate liver failure, or in those with impaired kidney function. As of 2024, no studies have found information for patients with severely impaired kidney function, severe liver failure, or are on dialysis. Vericiguat is contraindicated in pregnancy. While there are no studies on its safety when used by pregnant women, animals studies suggest higher rates of birth defects, as well as increased number of abortions and resorptions. It may also pass into breast milk, but the effects on breastfed infants is unknown. The manufacturer advises that child-bearing age patients should be on contraception and assessed for pregnancy before starting treatment.

Adverse effects The most common side effects of vericiguat include symptomatic low blood pressure and anemia. Patients taking other soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitors should not take vericiguat.

Pharmacology Vericiguat is a direct stimulator of soluble guanylate cyclase, an important enzyme in vascular smooth muscle cells. Specifically, vericiguat binds to the beta-subunit of the target site on the soluble guanylate cyclase enzyme. Soluble guanylate cyclase catalyzes the formation of cyclic GMP upon interaction with nitric oxide to activate a number of downstream signaling cascades, which can compensate for defects in this pathway and resulting losses in regulatory myocardial and vascular cellular processes due to cardiovascular complications.

Pharmacokinetics After vericiguat is administered (10 mg by mouth once daily), the average steady state and Cmax and AUC for patients with cardiovascular failure is 350 mcg/L and 6,680 mcg/h/L with a Tmax of one hour. Vericiguat has a positive food effect, and therefore patients are advised to consume food with the drug for an oral bioavailability of 93%. Vericiguat is extensively protein bound in plasma. Vericiguat is primarily metabolized via phase 2 conjugation reactions, with a minor CYP-mediated oxidative metabolite. The major metabolite is glucuronidated and inactive. The typical half-life profile for patients with heart failure is 30 hours. Vericiguat has a decreased clearance in patients with systolic heart failure.

History The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved vericiguat based on evidence from a clinical trial (NCT02861534) which consisted of 5,050 participants aged 23 to 98 years old with worsening heart failure. The trial was conducted at 694 sites in 42 countries in Europe, Asia, North and South America. The trial enrolled participants with symptoms of worsening heart failure. Participants were randomly assigned to receive vericiguat or a placebo pill once a day. Neither the participants nor the health care professionals knew if the participants were given vericiguat or placebo pills until after the trial was complete. It was awarded a fast track designation on 19 January 2021.

Society and culture

Legal status On 20 May 2021, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorization for vericiguat, intended for the treatment of symptomatic chronic heart failure in adults with reduced ejection fraction. The applicant for this medicinal product is Bayer AG. Vericiguat was approved for medical use in the European Union in July 2021.

References

Further reading Armstrong PW, Pieske B, Anstrom KJ, Ezekowitz J, Hernandez AF, Butler J, et al. (May 2020). "Vericiguat in Patients with Heart Failure and Reduced Ejection Fraction". N Engl J Med. 382 (20): 1883–1893. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1915928. hdl:11370/94a25118-d24e-4efa-94a0-3b46279b519c. PMID 32222134.

External links Clinical trial number NCT02861534 for "A Study of Vericiguat in Participants With Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction (HFrEF) (MK-1242-001) (VICTORIA)" at ClinicalTrials.gov

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Vericiguat

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Vericiguat claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Vericiguat before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Vericiguat ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Vericiguat

In research: Vericiguat appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Vericiguat in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Vericiguat is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2-Fluorophenyl compounds, Amines, Carbamates, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Vericiguat outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Vericiguat in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Vericiguat means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Vericiguat out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Vericiguat in simple terms?

Why does Vericiguat matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Vericiguat?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Vericiguat.