Stories and Viewpoints

Access & Impact

By: Niki Kapsambelis

March 26, 2025

Nearly a quarter century ago, in the era of dial-up Internet, compact discs and landlines, researchers enrolled a group of more than 19,000 patients to study whether medication to lower blood pressure and reduce cholesterol could reduce their risk for coronary heart diseases.

The idea was simple, yet profound: could medication make a difference in saving the lives of people whose risk factors were considered moderate? 

Known as the Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial, or ASCOT, the study looked primarily at patients recruited largely from family practices in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Scandinavian countries. The threshold to qualify for the study was purposely low: participants had to have hypertension and at least three risk factors, but those could be as simple as age (over 55), being male or having a close relative with a history of coronary heart disease. 

The study, funded by Viatris through one of its legacy companies, yielded results that helped to change international clinical guidelines in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. And for Shari, a physician who is Viatris’ Global Cardiovascular Diseases and Thrombosis Medical Affairs Lead, it is a significant point of pride – because it means the work she and her colleagues are doing, and have been doing for decades, is making a difference in human health by seeking out and addressing current gaps in healthcare.

Shari added that the company has more than 20 cardiovascular products, of which many have similarly contributed to guidelines and been part of landmark clinical studies. Among the patients who have benefitted from such treatment guidelines, ironically, is Barrett, who is Viatris’ Global Medical Affairs Lead for Cardiovascular Diseases. He has dedicated his professional life to preventing the disease that killed his father, grandfather and uncle, all before they had reached their 60s. 

The year Barrett turned 41 – the same age his father was when he died – he had an epiphany: he decided he would not resign himself to accepting cardiovascular disease as his fate. He consulted his doctor, became more active, followed a heart-healthy diet and started taking medication to lower his cholesterol and blood pressure. 

According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year – or about 1 in 6 deaths -- one-third of whom are people under 70.  And while many studies focus on people who are at the highest risk of disease, both Barrett and Shari are proud of the fact that Viatris is also committed to lower-risk patients, who still make up a significant portion of those statistics.

“We know these individuals. A lot of us are these individuals,” said Barrett. “It's that common patient who goes into the office and sees their physician, and the physician says, ‘Well, your blood pressure’s a little bit elevated.’ They don’t even calculate their cardiovascular risk, because they just see a couple minor risk factors. They send the patient home and say, ‘Let’s look at your blood pressure, we’ll monitor it. It was a little high today, but you’re in the office, so that probably explains part of it.’ And then they don’t truly get these patients on a course that could treat their disease.” 

But to Barrett, identifying those patients – and helping them and their health care providers understand their risk – is an important part of Viatris’ heritage in preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases across the board. In the back of his mind, he often thinks about his father, and how his life might have been saved if he’d had access to the same information.

Shari agrees. She points out that the sheer volume of people at risk adds weight to Viatris’ efforts: 1 in 4 men and 1 in 5 women worldwide have hypertension, a major risk factor. Two-thirds of them live in low- and middle-income countries. Approximately 2.6 million deaths are caused by dyslipidemia, or cholesterol disorders, another major risk factor. 

“It’s a global issue,” she said. “You can lower your risk, but that doesn’t mean it’s zero.”

The company’s legacy in treating cardiovascular diseases – both for people who might be at risk (known as primary prevention) and those who have survived an event (known as secondary prevention) – is deep and wide. Viatris' portfolio and experience extends across the cardiovascular continuum from reducing risk factors to covering increasingly advanced conditions, such as heart failure, which is the world’s leading cause of hospitalization, affecting more than 64 million people worldwide.

The Treating to New Targets (TNT) study from 2004 – which, like ASCOT, was funded by one of Viatris’ legacy companies -- led to current guidelines recommending higher doses of statins in patients who already had an event, as did the Treat Stroke to Target (TST) trial from 2019, which focused on people who had survived a stroke. Multiple grants funded the TST trial, including one from a Viatris legacy company.

“As a company, I think we can be proud of the legacy that we have and the legacy that we’ll continue to have,” Shari said. 

To Barrett, what sets Viatris apart is the company’s focus on the patient experience, rather than one or two risk factors – applying its broad portfolio to look at the cardiovascular odyssey with a scope and a scale that are unmatched. 

“Nobody (else) puts that whole picture together, and we’re unique in being able to do that,” he said. “Not only because we have landmark trials and products, but we’re able to look at it from an unmet medical need across that entire patient journey.”