May 7th, 2012
Roche Terminates Development of CETP Inhibitor Dalcetrapib
Larry Husten, PHD
Roche announced today that it has ended development of dalcetrapib, its entry into the once-promising class of HDL-raising CETP inhibitors. A data and safety monitoring board recommended that the dal-OUTCOMES phase 3 trial be stopped due to a lack of clinically meaningful efficacy. The DSMB found no evidence of safety problems.
May 6th, 2012
Patent Foramen Ovale — Are the Choices Patently Obvious?
Shelby Kutty, MD and John Ryan, MD
Shelby Kutty explains what we know and what we don’t know about how to manage patients with a PFO.
May 4th, 2012
Reanalyzed Chantix Data Yield Smaller CV Risk, New Controversy
Physician's First Watch, CardioExchange Staff
A new meta-analysis criticizes earlier work warning that the smoking-cessation drug varenicline (Chantix) poses increased cardiovascular risks. The analysis appears in BMJ. It was performed by researchers with no current ties to the drug maker, but one of whom had received a Pfizer investigator-initiated research award. The new analysis examined the risk of treatment-emergent serious […]
May 4th, 2012
Company Fails To Disclose Details About Heart Failure Risk of Drug
Larry Husten, PHD
Boehringer Ingelheim failed to fully disclose data suggesting that one of its drugs, pramipexole, a dopamine agonist sold under the brand name of Mirapex, is associated with a significantly increased risk of heart failure, according to a recent news report. The drug, which was originally developed for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, is now also used to treat […]
May 3rd, 2012
WARCEF: No Advantage for Warfarin over Aspirin in Heart Failure
Larry Husten, PHD
A new study offers “no compelling reason” to use warfarin instead of aspirin in heart failure patients who don’t have atrial fibrillation. In a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Shunichi Homma and members of the Warfarin versus Aspirin in Reduced Cardiac Ejection Fraction (WARCEF) study group report the results of a trial in which […]
May 3rd, 2012
The Dark Side of EKG Screening in Athletes
Shengshou Hu, M.D.
The New York Times’ “abysmal” report on screening young athletes for heart risk prompts Wes Fisher to envision how such a misguided recommendation could affect athletes and their families.
May 2nd, 2012
Real-World Experience with TAVI: Vive la France!
Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA and L. David Hillis, MD
A study of data from FRANCE 2, a prospectively maintained, multicenter registry of the French national experience with transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), has now been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The registry captured every TAVI performed at all 34 active centers in France and Monaco; it therefore reflects “real-life” experience with TAVI in patients with […]
May 2nd, 2012
Half the News That’s Fit To Print: NY Times on ECG Screening for Student Athletes
Larry Husten, PHD
A “dizzy” New York Times article exploring whether to screen young athletes for heart risk leaves out relevant research and exaggerates some pretty important numbers.
May 2nd, 2012
CMS Issues National Coverage Decision for TAVR
Larry Husten, PHD
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued on Tuesday its national coverage decision (NCD) for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). As expected, CMS will offer reimbursement for TAVR, but only if a number of criteria are first met. The NCD was initially requested by the American College of Cardiology and the Society of Thoracic […]