The DCVA brings partners together to deliver in breakthrough science in consortia to develop new cardiovascular solutions

Heart failure is an escalating global health challenge, affecting over 64 million people worldwide. Despite advancements in guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) that significantly reduce mortality and hospitalizations, many patients still do not receive optimal medication regimens or dosages. This gap in care highlights the need for innovative, collaborative approaches to improve treatment delivery and outcomes. The research The ADMINISTER I study demonstrated the potential of digital care solutions to enhance medication prescription accuracy and accelerate the time required to achieve GDMT. In real-world clinical practice, optimizing medications to meet GDMT standards is a complex and time-intensive process. It requires frequent monitoring, adjustments, and multiple visits to healthcare providers, posing a significant burden on both patients and clinicians. Building on this foundation, the ADMINISTER II consortium is a collaborative effort uniting multiple stakeholders, including healthcare providers, researchers, and (biomedical) engineers. This consortium aims to evaluate the impact of a cutting-edge digital care intervention designed to streamline medication optimization. By leveraging a robust remote monitoring infrastructure, this approach seeks to make the process more efficient, scalable, and accessible, while focusing on improving critical clinical outcomes. This collaborative digital intervention represents a transformative step toward patient care and offers hope for better heart failure management. Insights from ADMINISTER II could pave the way for the widespread adoption of innovative, integrated solutions, benefiting patients, caregivers, and healthcare systems worldwide. The ADMINISTER II consortium brings together the expertise of a leading Technical University, major referral hospitals, and a renowned academic center to deliver state-of-the-art digital care across a large nationwide hospital network. This unique synergy is pivotal to achieving the ambitious goals set by the Dutch Cardiovascular Alliance (DCVA): a 25% reduction in the cardiovascular burden by 2030. By integrating cutting-edge digital infrastructure with clinical excellence, the consortium aims to significantly lower hospitalizations and mortality rates. This partnership not only accelerates the adoption of innovative digital solutions but also ensures their effective implementation in diverse healthcare settings, marking a critical step toward transforming cardiovascular care on a national scale. The origin The ADMINISTER II is created after successful completion of the ADMINISTER I trial. The ADMINISTER I was fully funded by Amsterdam UMC and was a collaboration with Netherlands heart institute, UMC Utrecht, Rode Kruis hospital and CCN. The ADMINISTER II consortium will be on a larger scale; with a larger network and multiple funders.

An aneurysm is a bulging or dilation of a blood vessel that usually causes no symptoms but can become life-threatening if it ruptures. It most commonly occurs in the body’s main artery (aorta) or in the brain arteries. Each year, thousands of people in the Netherlands are diagnosed with an aneurysm. The national initiative Aneurysm-NL brings together knowledge and research to improve diagnosis and treatment. By fostering collaboration between physicians, researchers, and patients, we aim to detect aneurysms earlier and treat them more safely, ultimately improving care and reducing mortality from this condition. The Research Aneurysm-NL aims to build a sustainable, nationwide infrastructure that connects medical centers, researchers, and patients to accelerate innovation in aneurysm research and care. A central focus is the development of a national data platform that integrates clinical records, imaging, biobank samples, and genetic information. This resource will allow researchers to reconstruct lifetime disease trajectories, improve risk prediction, and enable more personalized treatment. In parallel, the project develops advanced research tools, including patient-derived in vitro aneurysm models and large-scale omics-approaches to identify new therapeutic targets. By integrating clinical insights with computational modeling and real-world outcome data, Aneurysm-NL supports better decision-making and more effective interventions for both aortic and cerebral aneurysms. It also evaluates the safety and effectiveness of current endovascular and neurosurgical treatments for unruptured brain aneurysms through a large multicenter study. Aneurysm-NL also invests in building a strong and inclusive research community. The project emphasizes collaboration between researchers, clinicians, and patients, and actively works toward linking its infrastructure to national registries and existing healthcare data sources to ensure long-term sustainability and broad accessibility. By uniting expertise from across the country, Aneurysm-NL strives to generate new knowledge, enable earlier and more accurate diagnosis, and personalize treatment strategies for aneurysm patients. The Origin The Aneurysm-NL consortium was established following an exploratory initiative within the Dutch CardioVascular Alliance (DCVA), aimed at identifying opportunities for a national approach to aneurysm research. Based on this exploration, Barend Mees, Hanneke Takkenberg and Mervyn Vergouwen were appointed as coordinators to lead the formation of the consortium. Following a national call in April 2024, they brought together clinicians, researchers and patients from across the Netherlands to collaborate in this new initiative. With funding from the Dutch Heart Foundation, Aneurysm-NL now aims to grow into a nationwide network and data infrastructure, uniting clinical and scientific expertise to advance aneurysm research and care in the coming years.

In preceding decades, conventional therapies have notably enhanced the survival rates of heart failure (HF) patients. However, a subset of individuals, particularly younger patients afflicted with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) or arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), still confront disease progression despite these treatments. This underscores the necessity for innovative approaches. The ARENA-PRIME initiative aims to address this gap by focusing on the development of novel gene therapies tailored to the specific disease mechanisms underlying DCM, attributed to mutations in the RBM20 and LMNA genes, as well as ACM, and associated with mutations in the DSGL2 and PKP2 genes. The goal is to progress towards first-in-human clinical trials, particularly focusing on LMNA disease, and to establish preclinical proof-of-concept for ACM therapies targeting DSGL2 and PKP2. The Research The ARENA-PRIME researchers utilize insights from previous programmes on cardiac gene therapies (e.g., inhibitory RNAs such as allele-specific short hairpin RNAs, antimiRs, etc.) and gene editing technologies (e.g., base- and prime editing) to develop novel treatments for dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM). This effort is supplemented by advanced research on adeno-associated viral vectors and the integration of heart tissue collections with cutting-edge sequencing technologies (like single-cell sequencing) to further explore disease mechanisms. At the beginning of the ARENA-PRIME programme, a (end-) user committee has been established, making sure that (end-)users are closely involved in the design of the studies and the implementation of the co-created studies and deliverables. This committee meets annually alongside the program's research meetings to provide guidance to investigators on optimizing the program's outcomes for (end-) users. It addresses all feedback, inquiries, and recommendations, whether requested or spontaneous. This committee meets once per year in conjunction with the programme’s research meetings and advises the investigators about the course of the programme and what actions need to be taken in order to maximise the probability that the (end-) users will be able to utilize and/or benefit from the results. This committee addresses any comments, remarks, questions and advice they may have, solicited or otherwise. The members of the ARENA-PRIME user committee include cardiomyopathy patients and their relatives, clinicians (e.g. cardiologists), representatives from related research programs (e.g., RegMedXB, H2020-TRAIN-HEART), and industry stakeholders including biotech and pharma company representatives and venture capitalists. Supporting Young Investigators The programme prioritizes attracting and nurturing young talent, providing hands-on training and fellowship awards to facilitate their career development. Over 20 young investigators participate, benefiting from exposure to collaborative research environments. To further support this career development, five fellowship awards of 50.000€ have been granted the past three years to junior postdoctoral researchers in the laboratories of the Hubrecht Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, Amsterdam UMC (location VUmc and AMC) and Maastricht University. Origin The former CVON-ARENA programme (2012-2017) advanced understanding of cardiac RNA species in heart failure (microRNAs, lncRNAs and circular RNAs). The CVON-ARENA programme (2012-2017) advanced understanding of cardiac RNA species, such as microRNAs, lncRNAs, and circular RNAs, in various forms of heart failure (HF). This subsequent ARENA-PRIME programme (2018-2023), funded by the Dutch Heart Foundation, targets treatment-resistant HF forms, particularly in younger patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) or arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM). In 2023 ARIME-PRIME received a matching grant from the Dutch Heart Foundation to work on their research together with a private partners, so that they can achieve their ambitions and objectives more quickly.

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is the main cause of mortality in Europe. During the last decades, successful strategies have been developed to treat ASCVD targeting traditional and novel risk factors leading to an unprecedented arsenal to reduce the cardiovascular disease burden. Unfortunately, current strategies are all aimed at adding novel therapeutic agents on top of the standard therapeutic moieties, adopting the one-size-fits-all dogma. This strategy has major limitations including unaddressed heterogeneity of patients, ignoring patients’ side-effects, lack of response to therapy and decreased compliance. With ATHERONETH, we aim to bring forward stratification tools that help to improve the prediction of the actual cardiovascular risk of individual patients, and in particular the pathophysiological mechanisms the contribute to this risk in the individual patient. This will allow clinicians to better tailor their therapeutic regimens. The Research Our main objective is to identify biological parameters that can be utilized to better stratify patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease for improved and personalized prevention and treatment. Utilization can be reached by finding circulating biomarkers or imaging characteristics that reflect plaque phenotypes, underlying pathophysiology, and ASCVD incidence. By combining frontline knowledge, clinical data resources and multimodal technologies, the consortium members will execute the following workplan. 1 - In ATHERONETH we will fine-tune the local phenotypic diversity of human plaques on a multi-omics level and define plaque types that associate with biology and clinical events. These plaque types will be associated with systemic read-outs (biomarkers). 2 - We will define systemic inflammatory and lipid metabolism related determinants of heterogeneity in plaque phenotype and ASCVD. 3 - We will utilise existing data from (large) cohorts to determine (epi)genetic, lipidomic/proteomic, and microbiome-related biomarkers of ASCVD and build algorithms that define subgroups of patients. 4 -We will study imaging parameters of plaque characteristics and inflammation that point to differential disease progression and potential treatment benefit. The Origin AtheroNeth leverages scientific power that was generated over the past decade by (inter)national research consortia. This consortium resulted from the DCVA exploration on atherosclerosis. Our vision for the future is to achieve a reduction in ASCVD-associated morbidity and mortality, an improvement in the quality of life for patients, and a reduction of the associated healthcare burden and costs. Our program has a strong match with the challenges as reported in the “Nationale Hart en Vaat agenda” (National Cardiovascular Agenda) of the Dutch Heart Foundation. It is evident that the current proposal addresses the challenges “Oog voor verschillen” (Eye for differences) and “Behandel op maat” (Tailored treatment).

A healthy lifestyle underlies adequate cardiovascular risk management. However, current initiatives to promote a healthy lifestyle are only sparsely connected and often do not involve the patient's environment. To solve this, cardiologists, neurologists, general practitioners, scientists, entrepreneurs, and patients have united in the BENEFIT project. The research Our mission is to make healthy living fun. Rather than telling people how to behave, we make healthy lifestyle choices appealing: the carrot is mightier than the stick. BENEFIT is an advanced loyalty program that rewards cardiovascular patients for the time and energy spent on healthy lifestyle activities. BENEFIT loyalty points can be earned for a range of health behaviors, such as exercising daily, abstaining from smoking, attending prevention programs, and showing up for health appointments. The BENEFIT program has different levels, ranging from a simple to use card-and-beacon system to an advanced digital platform that allows access to evidence-based lifestyle maintenance interventions, personal coaching, and smart technology. By rewarding everyday lifestyle and adherence behaviors, the program integrates care and non-care settings and facilitates embedding the new lifestyle in everyday life. Our goal is to create a national ecosystem in which evidence-based interventions to promote a healthy lifestyle are embedded in a system that rewards people for taking actions that contribute to such a healthy lifestyle. The central element of this ecosystem is a sophisticated loyalty program that encourages people to live healthy lifestyles for the long term. No more finger-pointing: the very act of rewarding a healthy lifestyle is stimulating! The ecosystem that we provide connects public and private parties, integrates existing care and lifestyle programs, has future-proof financing, and is constantly fed by scientific insights. BENEFIT for all! The origin The BENEFIT program is a public-private ecosystem in a national consortium, aiming to support patients with cardiovascular disease in their own home setting for a long-term healthy lifestyle. The Heart Foundation aims for more people to make healthy choices, so that they feel vital and run less risk of developing (again) cardiovascular diseases, which was one of the themes of the research agenda. Therefore, the Dutch Heart Foundation and ZonMw have collaborated to fund this program.

Heart failure poses a large burden on patients and healthcare, largely because heart failure patients have low fitness and require frequent hospitalisation for close monitoring. In CardiacCare@Home, researchers work together with patients, doctors, industry, and others to develop technology for home-based monitoring of cardiac function and rehabilitation. This approach facilitates early detection of worsening of cardiac function, which allows doctors to rapidly alter treatment and prevent hospitalisation. Moreover, home-based rehabilitation will improve patients’ fitness levels. Technological innovations will facilitate a new care path that improves patients’ quality of life and lower socio-economic costs, and lower burden for hospital staff. The research CardiacCare@Home has the following aims: To integrate a feasible, easy-to-use monitoring + biomarker system within the home environment of patients with HF, that is validated against gold standard measures, and to identify parameters suitable for integrated, frequent patient evaluation to improve and personalise treatment. To design an inclusive transmural home-based cardiac rehabilitation programme, personalised to patient (and caregivers) and disease characteristics, tailored to the needs and preferences and co-created with relevant end-users using a combination of user-friendly sensors and an eHealth platform. To develop a data analytics and decision support system to be incorporated in a novel eHealth platform to (i) enable effective monitoring of vital signs for the personalised, early detection of clinical deterioration, and (ii) facilitate personalised behaviour change to improve participation in rehabilitation. Co-develop an integrated, AI-driven, home-based monitoring and/or home-based rehabilitation program in patients with chronic HF after hospital admission due to decompensated HF, and assess its effects on quality of life, functional capacity and re-hospitalisation (WP3). To assess the impact, including cost-effectiveness and budget impact, of the home-based monitoring and/or rehabilitation CardiacCare@Home-intervention compared to current care from the perspective of patients with HF, healthcare providers, health insurance companies, and society. The origin Heart failure is linked to poor hospital recovery, low functional capacity, and high risk of hospital re-admission. CardiacCare@Home aims to develop and adopt innovative technology for home-based monitoring and cardiac telerehabilitation to improve quality of life, reduce admission and lower healthcare costs. This project was funded by the NWO perspective TTW. This public-private program stimulates the development of innovative technologies that may impact economy and society.