St. Jude Medical Inc. announced the first patient enrollment in the STAR-VT (Substrate Targeted Ablation using the FlexAbility Ablation Catheter System for the Reduction of VentricularTachycardia) clinical trial, a prospective, multi-center, randomized study evaluating the safety and efficacy of the FlexAbility ablation catheter in ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablation procedures.

AstraZeneca announced that the PEGASUS-TIMI 54 study, a large-scale outcomes trial involving more than 21,000 patients, successfully met its primary efficacy endpoint. The study assessed ticagrelor (Brilinta) tablets at either 60 mg twice daily or 90 mg twice daily plus low-dose aspirin for the secondary prevention of atherothrombotic events in patients who had experienced a heart attack one to three years prior to study start. The primary efficacy endpoint was a composite of cardiovascular (CV) death, myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke.