GLG News by General Cardiologists (US)

1:Crestor is the most potent statin in the market,yet is 3d in sales behind Zocor and Lipitor.2:The efficacy supriority together with its capacity to lower CRP levels led to the highest rate of ASCVD prevention in the shortest period of time evr documented in statin trials.3:The trial in near 18,000...

The JUPITER trial showed that people with what is regarded as normal ('bad') cholesterol and elevated C-reactive protein benefit more from the choleterol lowering drug rosuvastatin (Crestor, Astra-Zeneca) than from placebo. The first question is: is this true only for this particular type of statin...

     There will need to be some changes in the process by which the FDA evaluates drugs and devices. Quick vetting will require: 1. Safety: No signals of danger 2. Cost: No increase in cost, or actual savings 3. Benefits: When compared to current therapy, not placebo      ...

This plan to start a large trial to determine the optimal antiplatelet therapy. after [drug-eluting] stent implantation makes sense both scientifically and economically for the involved stent companies (Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific, Medtronic and Abbott). Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol Myers...

The growth of the big pharma companies in the past 20-30 years has to do with the fact that the medical community was willing to accept large trials (some with surrogate endpoints) as proof that a new treatment is good and that it can replace the old one. Since the problems with Troglitazone, Cerivastatin,...

The anemia drug erythropoietin and its congeners have been used extensively in patients with renal failure and in patients with cancer to boost the red cell count. However, erythropoietin also helps reduce programmed cellular death and is involved in the growth of new vessels. Because of these features...

This article is not news for clinical researchers like myself that have performed hundreds of clinical trials in collaboration with the Pharmaceutical Industry. Some of the most common reasons for that are: A)Negative studies are difficult to get published.B)Negative results for the dug of the...

The Medicare drug system was a political ploy. This just confrims it. The private insurers were unwilling to offer Rx coverage before then because they understood the economics of it.

The general public hears the bullet that stents are no better than medications, but the reality that this trial (COURAGE trial) had major flaws, the main being that only 10% of the patients screened participated in the trial. 90% were excluded. Thus, the patients enrolled were not necessarily the typical...

At first, it appeared that the reports linking Byetta and pancreatitis were likely due to an association between pancreatitis and the underlying pathology in patients receiving Byetta (obesity, diabetes, gall stones, and hypertriglyceridemia). However, the additional cases of (sometimes fatal)...