Study Group: Cardiologists who Specialize in Hypertension (US)

GLG News^SM Analyses by this Study Group's Leading Experts(?)

If it seems too good to be true...it probably is.

December 9, 2008

Analysis by:Joshua Feuer, Owner,

Analysis of:Generic Heart Drugs as Good as Brand-Name Counterparts | www.washingtonpost.com

This article implies that physician's have no justifiable reason for prescribing brand-name drugs. Unfortunately, it's not that simple.

“You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going, because you might not get there.” Yogi Berra

December 8, 2008

Analysis by:Joshua Feuer, Owner,

Analysis of:Patients Taking Lipitor Had a Significantly Reduced Risk of Cardiovascular Events Compared with Patients Taking Simvastatin, New Observational Study Shows | pharmalive.com

There is a question of bias in this study. It is not prospective, not randomized and not blinded and thus no valid conclusions can be made. The study should be ignored. It will have no impact on sales.

Outsourcing of compassionate use of drugs?

January 18, 2008

Analysis by:Dan Streja, Clinical Professor of Medicine,

Analysis of: No right to experimental drugs for dying patients: Supreme Court | news.yahoo.com

The Supreme Court has rejected the use of experimental drugs by the dying patients on the grounds that "The framers (of the US constitution) understood that the pursuit of life is an inalienable right that should not be abridged without due process of law." Over the years our patients with terminal illness have traveled outside the US to purchase hope when our management was offering none. Although in the majority of cases the hope was unjustified, the current decision will encourage healthcare providers residing outside the US to advertise for their services through the internet. The issue should be addressed by the legislators sooner rather than later. Drugs who improve quality of life, awaiting approval for survival indication or drugs looking promising in early clinical trials could be made available to dying patients with informed consent addressing our limitations.  

Niacin...it's deja vu all over again.

January 29, 2007

Analysis by:Joshua Feuer, Owner,

Analysis of:An Old Cholesterol Remedy Is New Again | www.nytimes.com

1. Pfizer Inc, the pharmaceutical giant, halted late-stage trials of the HDL increasing drug torcetrapib after investigators discovered that it increased heart problems and increased death rates in the treated population.
2. Niacin, a B vitamin that increases HDL (the good cholesterol) up to 35%, has largely been ignored by physicians treating hypercholesterolemia and coronary heart disease because it is difficult to prescribe related to the common nuisance, but non-serious side effect of flushing.
3. Statins typically decrease LDL (the bad cholesterol) by 30-50% and cardiovascular events by about 30-40% but one analysis suggests that by decreasing LDL by 40% and increasing HDL by 30%, cardiovascular events could be decreased by 70%.
4. A large trial is underway to test this hypothesis comparing statin therapy alone with combination statin plus niacin therapy.

Drug-eluting Versus Uncoated Stents

September 19, 2006

Analysis by:Daniel Fisher, Cardiologist,

Analysis of:NEJM Articles on DES in MI | content.nejm.org

The lead articles from the New England Journal of Medicine 9/14/06 reviewed new data showing benefits when comparing sirolimus-eluting stents to uncoated stents and when comparing paclitaxil eluting stents to uncoated stents.

There was a significant reduction in target-vessel revascularization at one year with the sirolimus-eluting stents compared to uncoated stents.

There was a trend (not statistically significant) toward reduction of serious adverse cardiac events at one year with paclitaxil-eluting stents compared to uncoated stents.

 

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