July 23, 2026 — The results of 59 ground-breaking trials will be unveiled for the first time at ESC Congress 2026, the annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology, which takes place Aug. 28-31, in Munich, Germany.
“Randomized controlled trials are the cornerstone of evidence-based cardiovascular medicine because they provide the highest level of evidence to guide clinical practice,” said Professor Tomasz Guzik, Chair of the ESC Congress Programme Committee. “This year, ESC Congress received a record number of submissions of late-breaking clinical trials, reflecting the remarkable pace of innovation across cardiology. We rigorously selected the studies with the greatest scientific quality and potential clinical impact. The 59 trials presented across 12 Hot Line sessions investigate new drugs, devices, imaging technologies, digital innovations and novel treatments, addressing many of the most important questions facing clinicians today. Presented for the first time, we anticipate that many of these studies will directly influence clinical guidelines and everyday patient care, while others will define the future of cardiology.”
Professor Guzik highlighted some that could have the biggest impact: “LIBREXIA ACS trial is one of the largest Hot Line studies, enrolling over 14,000 patients who have recently had a myocardial infarction,” he said. “For years, the field has awaited evidence whether factor XIa inhibitors can reduce recurrent ischaemic events after acute coronary syndromes without the bleeding seen with earlier anticoagulants. This landmark trial could redefine the management of underlying risk after a myocardial infarction.” He also pointed to PRESC1SE-MI, which tested a fast way to confirm or exclude heart attacks in a large trial enrolling nearly 68,000 emergency-department presentations for suspected heart attack across sites in in Europe, the US, Australia and Asia.
Two additional trials could reshape the management of forms of cardiomyopathy, a group of progressive heart muscle diseases that severely limit patients' lives. CARDIO-TTRansform will show whether eplontersen, an antisense therapy that lowers the amyloid-forming protein, can improve outcomes in transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy, a once-rare but increasingly recognised cause of heart failure. The findings of the ACACIA-HCM trial will confirm whether aficamten, a cardiac myosin inhibitor that reduces excessive heart muscle contraction, could provide the first positive results for patients with non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a common form of the disease with no approved drug targeting its cause.
Professor Guzik also highlighted the STAREE trial investigating a well-established class of drugs, statins: “This large trial addresses a very common dilemma in clinical practice – should we give statins to healthy people aged over 70 years to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events and survival free of dementia? The results from STAREE will have direct relevance to millions of older adults and their clinicians.”
2026 ESC Congress
He concluded, “ESC Congress program is where new evidence meets clinical practice. The Hot Line sessions present tomorrow’s breakthroughs, while the wider programme explores how they can be translated into better care for patients around the world and integrated into ESC Clinical Practice Guidelines.”
ESC Congress 2026 represents a not-to-be-missed opportunity for journalists to cover the latest breakthroughs in cardiovascular health, as they happen.
June 25, 2026 
