It is a multicentre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. 350 subjects will be included (in 12 or more medical centers) with severe HF, ejection fraction ≤35%, in New York Heart Association class III or IV. The other inclusion criteria concern: hospitalization for the HF decompensation in the last 3 months and a reduced six-minute walk test <350m or elevated NTproBNP ≥1000 pg / mL. To the European Society of Cardiology-guided, individually optimized medical therapy (OMT) the investigational product (IP) will be added. The subjects will be randomly assigned to one of the study group: 175 to the levosimendan arm and 175 to the placebo arm. The intervention studied in LEIA-HF trial is the administration of levosimendan as a continuous iv. infusion, every 4 weeks for 48 weeks (12 infusions in total). All study participants will also continue OMT. In the second phase of the study, after completing the levosimendan / placebo infusions, another 6 visits are planned, still double-blind, every 4 weeks, to assess the safety of treatment discontinuation (with optional return to the infusions by the Investigator when additional criteria for HF decompensation are met).~The efficacy of the treatment will be assessed after 52 weeks, 4 weeks after the last levosimendan / placebo administration.
The objective of the study is to determine the efficacy of repeated infusions of levosimendan in the group of outpatients with advanced systolic heart failure (HF).