AHA 2026: Insights on Oral PCSK9, Survodutide, and HF Care Come to Chicago

The American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2026, taking place November 6 to 9 in Chicago, Illinois, arrives as several therapies and care models pharmacists manage every day are evolving quickly. This year's program includes longer-term and subgroup data on the first oral proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitor, cardiovascular outcomes data for an investigational glucagon/glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor dual agonist, new evidence linking diet to heart failure (HF) risk, and a look at how health systems are building pharmacists into HF care. Pharmacy Times will speak with presenters across these sessions.¹

Oral PCSK9 Inhibition Moves Into Practice

The FDA approved enlicitide (Lipfendra; Merck) in July 2026 as the first oral PCSK9 inhibitor, a once-daily 20 mg tablet that lowers low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in adults with hypercholesterolemia, including heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. With the drug now available, the questions shift to which patients benefit most and whether the effect holds over time. The ongoing CORALreef Outcomes (NCT06008756) trial is evaluating its effect on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.^2,3

Ann Marie Navar, MD, PhD, of UT Southwestern Medical Center, will present an analysis from the phase 3 CORALreef Lipids trial (NCT05952856) examining whether enlicitide's LDL-C lowering is consistent across risk categories defined by the AHA's Predicting Risk of Cardiovascular Disease EVENTs (PREVENT) equations. PREVENT estimates 10-year risk of total cardiovascular disease, including atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and HF, in adults aged 30 to 79 years without known cardiovascular disease, and it incorporates kidney function alongside traditional risk factors. For pharmacists, the analysis speaks to a practical question: how to use a risk score to find patients in primary prevention who are not at goal on statin therapy and may need more.⁴

Christie M. Ballantyne, MD, of The Texas Heart Institute at Baylor College of Medicine, will present an interim look at CORALreef Extension (NCT06492291), the ongoing open-label study enrolling participants who completed the parent CORALreef trials. Longer-term durability and tolerability data will matter for pharmacists counseling patients who may stay on a daily oral lipid-lowering regimen for years.

A Cardiovascular Outcomes Trial for a Dual Agonist

Survodutide, an investigational once-weekly subcutaneous dual glucagon and GLP-1 receptor agonist, is being evaluated in SYNCHRONIZE-CVOT (NCT06077864), a phase 3, randomized, double-blind, event-driven cardiovascular safety trial. The trial enrolled adults with a body mass index of at least 27 kg/m² and established cardiovascular disease or chronic kidney disease and/or at least 2 weight-related complications or cardiovascular risk factors. Its primary end point is time to first occurrence of a 5-point major adverse cardiovascular event composite. When the trial design was published, the investigators noted that dual glucagon/GLP-1 agonism may reduce body weight more than GLP-1 agonism alone, but that its cardiovascular effects were unknown.⁵

Biykem Bozkurt, MD, PhD, director of the Winters Center of Heart Failure and associate director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, will discuss the results with Pharmacy Times after their presentation, including gastrointestinal adverse effects, titration, and where the agent could fit alongside current incretin therapies.

Diet, Adiposity, and HF Phenotypes

Amier Haidar, MD, MPH, of UTHealth Houston McGovern Medical School, led an analysis of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis examining whether ultra-processed food intake is associated with incident HF, whether that relationship differs between HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and HF with reduced ejection fraction, and what role central adiposity plays. The authors note that ultra-processed foods now account for more than half of total caloric intake in the United States, making diet a topic pharmacists routinely encounter when counseling patients on cardiometabolic risk.⁶

Building Pharmacists Into HF Care

Cody Parsons, APh, PharmD, BCCCP, director of clinical operations in the division of cardiovascular health at Stanford Health Care, will present on pharmacy's role in the AHA's IMPLEMENT-EF initiative, a quality improvement effort focused on in-hospital care for patients with HFpEF or HF with mildly reduced ejection fraction. In a 3-part interview series with Pharmacy Times running through the meeting, Parsons describes how Stanford embeds pharmacists across inpatient, transitions-of-care, and outpatient settings, and why identifying patients with HFpEF is the first gap to close before guideline-directed therapy can follow.

What to Watch

The common thread is the pharmacist's role in turning new evidence into practice: identifying patients not at goal, counseling on newer agents, and closing gaps in guideline-directed therapy. Pharmacy Times will publish expert interviews from Chicago as data are released.

REFERENCES

1. American Heart Association. Scientific Sessions 2026. Accessed November 4, 2026. https://professional.heart.org/en/meetings/scientific-sessions

2. Antrim A, Halpern L. FDA approves enlicitide, the first oral PCSK9 inhibitor for high cholesterol. Pharmacy Times. July 16, 2026. Accessed November 4, 2026. https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/fda-approves-enlicitide-the-first-oral-pcsk9-inhibitor-for-high-cholesterol

3. Enlicitide receives FDA approval for hypercholesterolemia following CORALreef trials. HCPLive. July 17, 2026. Accessed November 4, 2026. https://www.hcplive.com/view/enlicitide-receives-fda-approval-for-hypercholesterolemia-following-coralreef-trials

4. Khan SS, Matsushita K, Sang Y, et al. Development and validation of the American Heart Association's PREVENT equations. Circulation. 2024;149(6):430-449. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.123.067626

5. Kosiborod MN, Platz E, Wharton S, et al. Survodutide for the treatment of obesity: rationale and design of the SYNCHRONIZE cardiovascular outcomes trial. JACC Heart Fail. 2024;12(12):2101-2109. doi:10.1016/j.jchf.2024.09.004

6. Haidar A, Marupudi A, Rikhi R, Watson KE, Wood AC, Shapiro MD. Ultra-processed food consumption and incident heart failure: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. JACC Heart Fail. Published online 2026. doi:10.1016/j.jchf.2026.103571