Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals Sponsors American Heart Association’s Addressing Recurrent Pericarditis Initiative


Initiative aimed at improving access and outcomes for patients with recurrent pericarditis –

American Heart Association to work with champions at 15 healthcare sites to implement initiative activities and improve care quality –

HAMILTON, Bermuda, June 17, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (Nasdaq: KNSA) (Kiniksa), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company with a pipeline of immune-modulating assets designed to target a spectrum of cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases, today announced its sponsorship of the American Heart Association’s new Addressing Recurrent Pericarditis initiative, a multi-faceted effort to improve quality of care through identification, dissemination, and implementation of best practices for the diagnosis and management of recurrent pericarditis.

“We are proud to sponsor the American Heart Association’s Addressing Recurrent Pericarditis initiative. Recurrent pericarditis is a rare, chronic, flaring disease, in which patients are frequently misdiagnosed or undertreated due to a lack of access to expert care. In addition to elevating awareness and knowledge around recurrent pericarditis, this initiative will also help strengthen overall care by working to improve processes for diagnosing, referring, and treating patients,” said John F. Paolini, M.D., Ph.D., FACC, Chief Medical Officer of Kiniksa. “Furthermore, this initiative will facilitate knowledge-sharing across a collaborative network of healthcare providers, with the objective of establishing a clear model to streamline patient access to expert care and improved outcomes nationwide.”

Through the Addressing Recurrent Pericarditis initiative, the American Heart Association will establish a learning collaborative of champions at fifteen healthcare sites for recurrent pericarditis care. These champions will analyze patient identification and referral pathways, seeking to identify gaps and pragmatic solutions. The ultimate goal of the initiative is to improve outcomes and quality of life for recurrent pericarditis patients by disseminating best practices through national education, model sharing, abstract development, and patient- and physician-targeted podcasts and webinars.

“Recurrent pericarditis symptoms can have significant impact on emotional health and quality of life, but they often go undiagnosed and untreated,” said Mariell Jessup, M.D., FAHA, Chief Science and Medical Officer of the American Heart Association. “This new initiative will share insights and best practices nationally to improve identification and treatment for patients with this disease.”

Participating sites in the learning collaborative include:

  • Ascension St. Thomas Heart (Nashville, Tennessee)
  • Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, Northwestern Medicine (Chicago, Illinois)
  • Brigham & Women’s Hospital (Boston, Massachusetts)
  • Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland, Ohio)
  • Houston Medical Hospital (Houston, Texas)
  • Knight Cardiovascular Institute Cardiology Clinic, Oregon Health & Science University (Portland, Oregon)
  • Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, Massachusetts)
  • Mayo Clinic – Rochester (Rochester, Minnesota)
  • My Cardiologist/CVAUSA (Miami, Florida)
  • New York University Grossman School of Medicine (New York, New York)
  • Pacific Heart Institute (Santa Monica, California)
  • The Regents of the University of California Irvine (Irvine, California)
  • University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
  • University of Utah Hospital (Salt Lake City, Utah)
  • University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Virginia)

About Recurrent Pericarditis
Recurrent pericarditis is a painful and debilitating chronic autoinflammatory cardiovascular disease marked by inflammation of the pericardium and is often associated with changes in electrical conduction and sometimes buildup of fluid around the heart, called pericardial effusion. Recurrent pericarditis symptoms have an impact on quality of life, limit physical activities, and lead to frequent emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Data shows that approximately 40,000 patients in the U.S. seek and receive treatment for recurrent pericarditis each year. Of that group, approximately 14,000 patients experience two or more recurrences due to persistent underlying disease or inadequate response to conventional therapies, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), colchicine, and corticosteroids.

About Kiniksa
Kiniksa is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, acquiring, developing, and commercializing therapeutic medicines for patients suffering from debilitating diseases with significant unmet medical need. Kiniksa’s immune-modulating assets, ARCALYST, abiprubart, and mavrilimumab, are based on strong biologic rationale or validated mechanisms, target a spectrum of underserved cardiovascular and autoimmune conditions, and offer the potential for differentiation. For more information, please visit www.kiniksa.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward- looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation, statements regarding: the ultimate number of healthcare sites that will participate in the learning collaborative; our belief that the Addressing Recurrent Pericarditis initiative will (a) improve quality of care through identification, dissemination and implementation of best practices for the diagnosis and management of recurrent pericarditis, (b) elevate awareness and knowledge around recurrent pericarditis, (c) strengthen overall care by working to improve processes for diagnosing, referring and treating patients, and (d) facilitate knowledge-sharing across a collaborative network of healthcare providers to streamline patient access to expert care and improve outcomes nationwide; that the healthcare champions participating in the Addressing Recurrent Pericarditis initiative will analyze patient identification and referral pathways, seeking to identify gaps and pragmatic solutions with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes, quality of life, identification and treatment for recurrent pericarditis patients by disseminating insights and best practices; and our belief that all of our product candidates offer the potential for differentiation.

These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our and our partners’ achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

These and other important factors discussed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including under the caption “Risk Factors” contained therein, could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, we disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Every Second Counts! ®

Kiniksa Investor and Media Contact
Rachel Frank
(339) 970-9437
rfrank@kiniksa.com