Transition to innovative, human-relevant pre-clinical cardiovascular research: a perspective

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. It is estimated that approximately 17.9 million people died from CVDs in 2019, which represented 32% of all deaths globally. Coronary heart disease is the commonest type of CVDs, contributing to the death of more than 380 000 people in 2020 in the USA,1 while other pathologies—including stroke, arrhythmias, heart valve diseases, cardiomyopathies, aneurysms, heart failure, and congenital defects—are also very debilitating. According to recent data, the EU expenditure for CVDs is ∼210 billion EUR per year, while the annual direct and indirect CVD-related costs in the USA were recently estimated at 407.3 billion USD.1 It is evident therefore that CVDs constitute a huge societal problem and a colossal burden for healthcare systems.