AHA Recognizes Amgen for Commitment to Heart Failure Care Through Sponsorship of National Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure Quality Improvement Program

PRESS RELEASE

DALLAS (Feb. 9, 2015) — In celebration of Heart Failure Awareness Week (Feb. 8-14), the American Heart Association (AHA) would like to recognize Amgen for their support of the AHA’s Get With The Guidelines®-Heart Failure initiative — the nation’s largest quality improvement program focused on heart failure. As a new sponsor of this initiative, Amgen’s support will help achieve the goal of improving care for heart failure by helping to educate physicians and patients about consistent adherence to the latest evidence-based treatment guidelines.

Heart failure occurs when the heart muscle is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body's needs and is one of the most common reasons for hospitalization among those over 65. According to the AHA’s Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics-2015 Update, 5.7 million people in the U.S. have heart failure, with the number expected to rise to eight million by 2030. Every year, 870,000 new cases are diagnosed and about 50 percent of Americans will die within five years of diagnosis. Currently, heart failure has no cure, yet early diagnosis, proper treatment and healthy lifestyle changes can help people who have heart failure live more comfortable, longer lives.

“I would like to thank Amgen for their generous support of the AHA as a new sponsor of Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure,” said Nancy Brown, Chief Executive Officer of the American Heart Association. “We look forward to working closely with Amgen to continue improving the quality of care for patients with heart failure.”

Launched in 2005, numerous published studies have demonstrated the Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure program’s success in achieving patient outcome improvements, including reductions in 30-day readmissions.

Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure also supports hospitals by providing access to the most up-to-date research and scientific publications and offering professional educational opportunities and patient education resources. To date, more than 1 million patients have been treated in the program in the nearly 540 Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure participating hospitals.

“The Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure program is vital in bridging the gap between knowledge and routine clinical practice, to help patients hospitalized with heart failure receive high quality evidence-based care,” said Tony Hooper, executive vice president at Amgen. “We understand the increasing importance of educating and empowering patients to play an active role in their healthcare and, as a proud sponsor of the Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failureprogram, as well as AHA’s Heart360 Cholesterol program, we look forward to collaborating with the AHA to build upon the great work that this initiative has already accomplished.”

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke — the two leading causes of death in the world. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call

1-800-AHA-USA1

, visitheart.org or call any of our offices around the country. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association receives funding mostly from individuals. Foundations and corporations donate as well, and fund specific programs and events. Strict policies are enforced to prevent these relationships from influencing the association’s science content. Financial information for the American Heart Association, including a list of contributions from pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers, is available at www.heart.org/corporatefunding.