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Biotech / Medical : Pharma News Only (pfe,mrk,wla, sgp, ahp, bmy, lly) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Anthony Wong who wrote (1033)	11/11/1998 11:07:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

[AHP MTC] Beta-blocker reduces death rate in heart failure Wednesday November 11, 10:13 pm Eastern Time By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent DALLAS, Nov 11 (Reuters) -- Older, cheaper heart drugs known as beta-blockers can save the lives of many patients with heart failure, researchers said on Wednesday. Adding the beta-blocker bisoprolol to standard treatment with another kind of drug known as an ACE inhibitor and diuretics cut the death rate by 32 percent in patients with heart failure, a study found. Dr. Henry Dargie of the Western Infirmary in Glasgow, Scotland said his study of more than 2,600 men was stopped early because of the clear benefits of adding beta-blockers to the drugs his patients were taking. There was also a 32 percent reduction in hospital admissions among the patients, he told a meeting of the American Heart Association. Bisoprolol, made by American Home Products (NYSE:AHP - news) unit Wyeth-Ayerst under the names Zebeda and Ziac (when combined with a diuretic), is also available generically. Heart failure is a serious problem, with a 12 percent death rate per year. Half of all heart failure patients die within five years of being diagnosed. Standard treatment is diuretics, which lower blood pressure by forcing excess water from the body, and ACE inhibitors, which also help lower blood pressure. ''I think this is a landmark change,'' Dr. Bertram Pitt of the University of Michigan School of Medicine said when he heard the results. Pitt did his own study, giving heart patients Searle drug Aldactone along with ACE inhibitors and diuretics. He found a 27 percent reduction in deaths. ''This study also indicates that Aldactone was well tolerated when given in conjunction with an ACE inhibitor,'' he told a news conference. ''We also observed a 22 percent decrease in the combined endpoint of nonfatal hospitalizations and total mortality in the group treated with Aldactone.'' Aldactone, sold by Searle, Monsanto Corp's (NYSE:MTC - news) pharmaceutical division, is known generically as spironolactone. It is in a class of drugs known as aldosterone agonists, which are prescribed for a condition known as primary hyperaldosteronism, the edema or swelling associated with heart failure and cirrhosis of the liver. It is not approved for use in treating heart failure directly, but Pitt said perhaps it should be. ''This is a relatively inexpensive agent,'' Pitt told the news conference. ''I think we are going to have a change in the standard of care,'' he added. Doctors should start adding beta-blockers and aldosterone agonists to the standard regime of heart patients, he said. ''The evidence for beta-blockers, I think, is overwhelming and the evidence for spironolactone, I think, is overwhelming.'' Pitt noted that cancer experts have been using mixtures of drugs for years. ''We're getting to a cocktail approach,'' he said. ''Our friends in cancer are doing it and we may be getting to that cocktail approach in the disease that kills more people than any other.'' Other doctors agreed the results were overwhelming. ''A 32 to 35 percent reduction in death rate is a big decrease in mortality in relation to many of the therapeutic interventions that we have in cardiology,'' Dr. Sidney Goldstein of Case Western Reserve University told the news conference. But Dargie noted that even ACE inhibitors are underused in treating heart disease. ''And only 30 percent of patients are put on beta-blockers after a first heart attack even though it is advised,'' he said. biz.yahoo.com