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Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism

Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism (CVRM)

Our bold ambition is to stop and reverse CVRM diseases by maximising our medicines, delivering innovative solutions and advancing our pipeline. We are fundamentally transforming CVRM care. Science has uncovered commonalities between CVRM diseases, it is important that we recognise not only the distinctions between these disease areas, but also how they are interconnected. Shared risk factors are not always addressed, and science suggests that by considering common mechanisms in CVRM diseases, we can improve outcomes in patients before comorbidities emerge.

By furthering our understanding of the science behind shared risk factors and by investing in purpose-led partnerships across the full spectrum of CVRM disease, we will continue to advance treatment paradigms and improve outcomes for people in the UK.

Key disease areas

Our focus lies in cardiovascular disease, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, and hyperkalaemia, as well as through continued exploration of common disease mechanisms and shared risk factors.

Diabetes is a chronic condition that causes blood sugar levels to become too high. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) which is most common, is a condition where either, the body does not produce enough insulin, or the insulin the body makes does not work properly.¹

Early diagnosis is vital in reducing disease progression and preventing comorbidities in T2D.² For example, if you have T2D, you could be two to five times more likely to develop chronic heart failure (HF).³ Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is also a huge risk factor for people living with T2D – as approximately half of all T2D patients will develop CKD.⁴

In the UK, we continue to follow the latest science and pursue purpose-led partnerships that support our ambition to shift the diabetes treatment paradigm toward a system of early diagnosis and pro-active risk management that reduces disease progression and prevents cardiorenal comorbidity.

Around 5 million people are living with diabetes in the UK,
90% of which have T2D.⁵

An estimated 2.4 million people in the UK
are now at an increased risk of developing T2D.⁵

Heart failure (HF) occurs when the heart does not pump blood around the body as effectively as it should, and usually happens because the heart has become too weak or stiff and cannot deliver enough blood and oxygen to the body. It can occur at any age but is more common in older people above the age of 65 and gets gradually worse over time. There is no cure, but it can be controlled.⁶

Hospital admissions for HF are largely preventable; HF is one of the leading causes of hospitalisation⁷ and a significant financial burden on the NHS, representing around 5% of total admissions each year.⁸ Many cases of HF are diagnosed too late: currently, 80% of people receive a diagnosis in secondary care and emergency services, but more than 40% of them had shown symptoms at GP consultations as far back as five years prior to diagnosis,⁹ with one study suggesting that patients can wait up more than two and a half years between first symptoms and diagnosis.¹⁰

We are working to deliver innovations in early patient identification that the NHS can adopt and take to scale. We want to deliver NHS transformation by creating scalable improvements and better integration of chronic disease pathways, by reducing waiting times, enabling large scale clinical trials, and addressing healthcare inequality.

Our ultimate goal is to eradicate unplanned hospital admissions across the full spectrum of HF, in turn reducing potential health service burden at a time when it is needed most.

More than 900,000 people are living with HF in the UK,
with a further 210,000 estimated
to be undiagnosed.¹¹

The burden of HF in the UK is increasing, with almost
200,000 people newly diagnosed every year.¹¹

HF is the cause of approximately 65,000
unplanned hospital admissions per year.¹¹

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) occurs when the kidneys don’t function properly. It is a common condition that can affect anyone but is more common in older people, or black and south Asian people. Left untreated it may cause the kidneys to stop working, which can lead to the need for dialysis (artificial removal of waste products from the blood) or kidney transplant.¹²

We are supporting boundary-pushing research across the full continuum of disease progression. We want to reframe practice to place an increased emphasis on early detection and diagnosis and we are committed to reducing disease progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and the onset of other closely linked cardiovascular (CV) complications.

With CKD being so closely linked to CV risk factors,¹³ we take a holistic approach to treating CKD – keeping patients’ wellbeing at the centre of our work.

Around 3.5 million people
in the UK have CKD.¹⁴

Around 900,000 to 1.8 million people are living with
undiagnosed CKD in England alone.¹⁵

Black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities are up to
five times more likely to develop CKD than other groups.¹⁴

A myocardial infarction (MI), or heart attack, is a very serious medical emergency when the blood supply to the heart has been blocked, usually by a blood clot. It can cause serious damage to the heart and can be life-threatening.¹⁶

We know that diseases like type 2 diabetes (T2D) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) carry significant risk factors for cardiovascular diseases like heart failure (HF),^3,12 which increase your risk of heart attack.¹⁷

Our ambition is to reframe patient care by putting more emphasis on early patient identification and diagnosis. From March to October 2020, approximately 500,000 fewer people commenced use of preventative cardiovascular medicines and 23,000 fewer individuals were diagnosed with heart failure compared to the previous year, which in turn, is expected to lead to more than 12,000 excess heart attacks, strokes, and premature deaths over the next five years.¹⁸

This is why we continue to work with our partners to adopt a holistic approach that reduces cardiovascular morbidities in patients who suffer from other associated diseases like T2D and CKD.

In the UK, one person every five minutes is admitted to
hospital due to a heart attack (myocardial infarction) -
that’s 280 admissions a day or 100,000 a year.¹⁹

Hyperkalaemia is a serious condition characterised by elevated potassium levels in the blood that can cause serious heart problems.²⁰

It occurs when the kidneys do not function properly, so people living with chronic kidney disease (CKD), or those on common medications for heart failure (HF), such as RAAS inhibitors, are at higher risk of developing the disease.^20,21 If left untreated it can lead to muscle weakness, cardiac arrhythmias, and in severe cases may lead to cardiac arrest and death.^20,22

We collaborate with the NHS to work together across areas such as data sharing and patient pathway redesign across linked diseases (like HF and CKD) to ensure patients have access to the right treatments at the right time.

An estimated 2-3% of the general population in the UK have
hyperkalaemia and incidence in hospital patients is 1-10%.²¹

Transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR) is a systemic and progressive rare disease where the transthyretin (TTR) protein builds up in the body which, if left undiagnosed and untreated, can cause organ complications such as heart failure, polyneuropathy (which affects the nerves and brain) and chronic kidney disease.^{23, 24, 25}

We are advancing the science behind ATTR to transform a patient’s diagnosis and treatment journey, accelerating referrals and access to appropriate medicines.

ATTR is frequently under-recognised due to non-specific and mixed symptoms, that resemble more common conditions.^{26, 27, 28} Early diagnosis and treatment are critical to accelerating change for people living with ATTR.²⁸ So we are raising awareness about the importance of detecting ATTR and its related conditions as early as possible.

If we emphasise the importance of timely diagnosis, we can drive meaningful change to improve the health and lives of patients.

Once diagnosed, the life expectancy is 2 to 5 years for ATTR cardiomyopathy and the median survival is 5 to 15 years for ATTR polyneuropathy.^{28, 29}

Patient resources

Raising awareness of kidney health

We have partnered with Kidney Care UK to help identify those most at risk of developing chronic kidney disease and encourage them to seek support from a healthcare professional. Visit www.kidneycareuk.org/take-control-kidney-health for further information about the campaign and to find out your risk of developing chronic kidney disease.

As the UK’s leading kidney patient support charity, Kidney Care UK offers patient information, free counselling, advocacy support, and financial help to everyone affected by kidney disease.

Supporting people diagnosed with Heart Failure

We have partnered with the Pumping Marvellous Foundation to provide information about heart failure to those newly diagnosed. The packs are shared with patients by healthcare professionals across the UK. Visit https://pumpingmarvellous.org/community-hub/support-guides/your-discharge-pack/ to download the pack.

The Pumping Marvellous Foundation is the UK’s patient-led heart failure charity. Their goal is to facilitate better outcomes for people with or at risk of heart failure by working at a local, national, and international level.

Both projects were developed as part of a Patient Advocacy Group partnership with AstraZeneca UK Limited, where AstraZeneca provided financial support and had no editorial input into the content.

Our therapy areas

To find out more about our work and focal points in other therapy areas, please visit our therapy areas page.

Find out more

Media

To find out more about CVRM news from AstraZeneca UK please visit our media section.

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NHS England. Diabetes. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/diabetes/#:~:text=Diabetes%20is%20a%20lifelong%20condition,the%20cells%20that%20produce%20insulin. Last Accessed: October 2025.
Herman WH, et al. Early Detection and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Reduce Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality: A Simulation of the Results of the Anglo-Danish-Dutch Study of Intensive Treatment in People With Screen-Detected Diabetes in Primary Care (ADDITION-Europe). Diab Care. 2015;38:1449-1455.
Nichols GA, et al. Congestive Heart Failure in Type 2 Diabetes: Prevalence, incidence, and risk factors. Diab Care. 2001;24:1614–1619.
Thomas MC, et al. Diabetic kidney disease. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2015;1:15018.
Diabetes UK. How many people in the UK have diabetes? Available at: https://www.diabetes.org.uk/professionals/position-statements-reports/statistics. Last Accessed: October 2025.
NHS England. Overview: Heart Failure. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/heart-failure/. Last Accessed: October 2025.
The Heart Failure Policy Network. Preventing hospital admissions in heart failure: A European case study for building resilience and sustainability of healthcare systems. Available at:https://www.healthpolicypartnership.com/app/uploads/Preventing-hospital-admissions-in-heart-failure.pdf. Last Accessed: October 2025.
British Heart Foundation. Heart failure: a blueprint for change. Available at: https://www.bsh.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Heart-Failure-A-Blueprint-For-Change-Oct-2020-3.pdf. Last Accessed: October 2025.
Bottle A, et al. Routes to diagnosis of heart failure: observational study using linked data in England. Heart. 2018;104(7):600–605.
Hayhoe B, et al. Adherence to guidelines in management of symptoms suggestive of heart failure in primary care. Heart. 2019; 105:678–685.
British Heart Foundation. UK Factsheet. Available at: https://www.bhf.org.uk/-/media/files/for-professionals/research/heart-statistics/bhf-cvd-statistics-uk-factsheet.pdf?rev=8eaa5fd7024142ce99bfccede2c04f72&hash=56FADE911BEDB7A6526F2690AC61B2B9. Last Accessed: October 2025.
NHS England. Overview: Chronic Kidney Disease. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/kidney-disease/#:~:text=Chronic%20kidney%20disease%20is%20usually,stop%20the%20kidneys%20working%20properly. Last Accessed: October 2025.
Said S, et al. The link between chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. J Nephropathol. 2014;3:99-104.
Kidney Care UK. Facts about kidneys. Available at: https://www.kidneycareuk.org/news-and-campaigns/facts-and-stats/#:~:text=Kidney%20disease-,Around%203.5%20million%20people%20in%20the%20UK%20have%20Chronic%20Kidney,is%20less%20than%2015%25. Last Accessed: October 2025.
NHS England. Chronic Kidney Disease in England: The Human and Financial Cost. Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/improvement-hub/wp-content/uploads/sites/44/2017/11/Chronic-Kidney-Disease-in-England-The-Human-and-Financial-Cost.pdf. Last Accessed: October 2025.
NHS England. Overview: Heart Attack. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/heart-attack/. Last Accessed: October 2025.
NHS England. Cardiovascular Disease. Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cardiovascular-disease/. Last Accessed: October 2025.
Carnall Farrar. Recovering CVD from COVID. Available at: https://www.carnallfarrar.com/recovering-cvd-from-covid/. Last Accessed: October 2025.
British Heart Foundation. Facts and figures. Available at: https://www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/news-from-the-bhf/contact-the-press-office/facts-and-figures. Last Accessed: October 2025.
National Kidney Foundation. Hyperkalemia (high potassium). Available at: https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/what-hyperkalemia. Last Accessed: October 2025.
National Kidney Foundation. Facts About High Potassium in Patients with Kidney Disease. Available at: https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/what-hyperkalemia#:~:text=It%20usually%20develops%20slowly%20over,is%20a%20life%2Dthreatening%20condition. Last Accessed: October 2025.
American Heart Association. Hyperkalemia (High Potassium). Available at: https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-failure/treatment-options-for-heart-failure/hyperkalemia-high-potassium. Last Accessed: October 2025.
Cleveland Clinic. Transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR-CM) Available at: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17855-amyloidosis-attr. Last Accessed: October 2025.
Lobato, L. The landscape of treatment of chronic kidney disease in hereditary ATTR amyloidosis. Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2015;10(Suppl 1):I12.
Sousa MM, et al. Transthyretin in high density lipoproteins: association with apolipoprotein A-I. J Lipid Res. 2000;41(1):58-65.
Gertz M, et al. Avoiding misdiagnosis: expert consensus recommendations for the suspicion and diagnosis of transthyretin amyloidosis for the general practitioner. BMC Fam Pract. 2020;21(1):198.
Adams D, et al. Expert consensus recommendations to improve diagnosis of ATTR amyloidosis with polyneuropathy. J Neurol. 2021;268(6):2109-2122.
Nativi-Nicolau JN, et al. Screening for ATTR amyloidosis in the clinic: overlapping disorders, misdiagnosis, and multiorgan awareness. Heart Fail Rev. 2022;27(3):785-793.
Hawkins PN, et al. Evolving landscape in the management of transthyretin amyloidosis. Ann Med. 2015;47(8):625-638.

GB-68934 | DOP: October 2025

GB-69529 | DOP: August 2025

Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism (CVRM)

Type 2 diabetes

Heart failure

Chronic kidney disease (CKD)

Heart attack (myocardial infarction)

Hyperkalaemia

Transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR)

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