Independent · non-commercial · publishes on a quarterly cycle|Current cycle 2026 Q3
Compound Evidence InstituteEvidence synthesis · established 2023Graded assessments of compounds, trials, methods and supply
Document set current to 30 July 2026
Compound monograph · evidence extract

SS-31 (elamipretide) in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk reduction — evidence extract

The Institute's graded assessment of SS-31 (elamipretide) for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk reduction, with the contributing trials and the domain-by-domain certainty reasoning.

Document identifier
CEI-MN-044/EV-CVD
Series
Evidence extract
Version
4.2
Published
17 May 2024
Last reviewed
17 Apr 2025
Next review
17 Apr 2027
Identifier
10.71829/cei.mono.44
Certainty
Moderate
Cycle
2024 Q2

§1Evidence extract: Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk reduction

§1.1Question and anchor outcome

Population
Established atherosclerotic disease of the coronary, cerebral or peripheral arterial beds, or a risk profile sufficient for enrolment in a cardiovascular outcome trial.
Intervention
SS-31 (elamipretide), subcutaneous or intravenous in clinical studies
Comparator
As used in each contributing trial; reported per trial rather than pooled across comparator types
Anchor outcome
Three-point major adverse cardiovascular events (cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke)

Additional outcomes the Institute extracts for this indication: Cardiovascular death; All-cause death; Hospitalisation for heart failure.

§1.2Contributing trials

Table 1. Trials contributing to the assessment of SS-31 (elamipretide) in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk reduction.

TrialPhaseDesignRandomisedDurationYear
EMBRACE-STEMI2Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled916 months2016

§1.3Certainty assessment

Certainty assessment by domainDowngrading decision recorded for each certainty domain.Certainty domainNo concernSeriousVery seriousEffect on ratingRisk of biasno downgradeInconsistencyno downgradeIndirectnessno downgradeImprecisionno downgradePublication biasdowngrade one levelTotal downgrading: 1 levelModerate certainty
Figure 2. Domain-by-domain certainty assessment for SS-31 (elamipretide) in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk reduction. The starting rating for a body of randomised evidence is high; each serious concern reduces it by one level and each very serious concern by two.

Table 2. Reasoning recorded against each certainty domain.

DomainRatingReasoning
Risk of biasNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
InconsistencyNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
IndirectnessNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
ImprecisionNo concernNo serious concern identified in this domain.
Publication biasSeriousToo few contributing studies for a formal assessment; the risk cannot be excluded.
Overall rating: Moderate certainty. The true effect is likely to be close to the estimate, but there is a possibility that it is substantially different. Further research is likely to have an important impact on confidence in the estimate.

§1.4What this extract does not establish

References cited on this page

References are numbered in order of first citation in this document. Each superscript in the text links to its entry below.

  1. Szeto HH. First-in-class cardiolipin-protective compound as a therapeutic agent to restore mitochondrial bioenergetics. British Journal of Pharmacology 2014;171(8):2029–2050. doi:10.1111/bph.12461 · PMID 24117165
  2. D’Hondt M, Bracke N, Taevernier L, Gevaert B, Verbeke F, Wynendaele E, De Spiegeleer B. Related impurities in peptide medicines. Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis 2014;101:2–30. doi:10.1016/j.jpba.2014.06.012 · PMID 25044089
  3. Guyatt GH, Oxman AD, Kunz R, Brozek J, Alonso-Coello P, Rind D, Devereaux PJ, Montori VM, Freyschuss B, Vist G, Jaeschke R, Williams JW, Murad MH, Sinclair D, Falck-Ytter Y, Meerpohl J, Whittington C, Thorlund K, Andrews J, Schünemann HJ. GRADE guidelines: 6. Rating the quality of evidence — imprecision. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 2011;64(12):1283–1293. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2011.01.012 · PMID 21839614

Identifiers are reproduced only where the Institute holds them. Where a digital object identifier or PubMed identifier is not shown, the Institute has recorded the journal and year and has not constructed an identifier.

Nothing published by the Institute is medical advice, a diagnosis, a prescription, a treatment recommendation or a purchasing recommendation. Compounds supplied for research use are not approved for human or veterinary use in any jurisdiction, and a favourable analytical assessment of a supplier is not a statement that any product is safe or effective. The Institute publishes certainty ratings and never recommendations. No telephone number, messaging handle or ordering channel appears anywhere on this site.