Enormous Rivaroxaban Study Stopped Early For ‘ Overwhelming Efficacy ’
(Updated) –Oral anticoagulant reduced CV events in patients with coronary and peripheral disease. The very large COMPASS study has been stopped early for “overwhelming efficacy,” according to a press release issued by Bayer AG and Janssen, manufacturers of rivaroxaban (Xarelto). The phase 3 trial randomized 27,402 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and peripheral artery...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - February 8, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes Anticoagulant CAD NOAC PAD rivaroxaban Source Type: blogs
New Questions Raised About SPRINT
More questions are being raised about SPRINT, the enormous NIH-funded blood pressure lowering trial. Two recent developments will likely add more obstacles to the already difficult task of applying the results of the trial in the real world. Even before the full results of the trial were first made public the NIH and the SPRINT...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - February 8, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes blood pressure data sharing hypertension open data SPRINT Source Type: blogs
27,000 Patient PCSK9 Inhibitor Trial Meets Main Endpoints
–Cardiovascular outcomes finally available for PCSK9 inhibitors. Amgen announced on Thursday afternoon that the FOURIER trial had met both its primary composite endpoint (cardiovascular death, non-fatal MI, non-fatal stroke, hospitalization for unstable angina or coronary revascularization) and the even more rigorous key secondary composite endpoint (cardiovascular death, non-fatal MI or non-fatal stroke). The company also...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - February 2, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes Amgen cholesterol CVOT evolocumab PCSK9 statins Source Type: blogs
In Which I Go Under The Knife And Learn About Medicine In The Real World
I’m not a doctor but I thought I knew something about anticoagulation. Over the course of a career covering cardiology I’ve written countless stories about heparin, warfarin, the low molecular weight heparins, and the new oral anticoagulants. So when I had bilateral total knee replacement a few weeks ago I thought I knew what to...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - January 27, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics anticoagulation aspirin Evidence-based medicine Lovenox total knee replacement Xarelto Source Type: blogs
Long Unsuccessful Heart Failure Drug Once Again At Center Of Controversy
–The long, strange 30-year journey of BiDil. It’s been buried in the avalanche of related news but there’s an interesting and somewhat bizarre cardiology angle to the debate over Trump’s nomination of Tom Price to be the next HHS Secretary. ProPublica reported on Friday that last summer Price went to bat for the makers of...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - January 23, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Heart Failure People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Uncategorized ACE inhibitors BiDil conflict of interest HHS Tom Price Source Type: blogs
Screen-And-Treat to Prevent Diabetes Doomed to Fail
Screening must be supplemented by broader public health approaches. Screen and treat strategies to prevent type 2 diabetes are doomed to failure, according to a large new systematic review and meta-analysis published in The BMJ. Instead, the authors said and outside experts agreed, any effort to combat the already enormous and still growing problem of type 2...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - January 4, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Diabetes Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes glucose metformin population measures Public health screening Source Type: blogs
2016: Great Year Or Greatest Year Ever?
Editor’s note: Once again Larry was too depressed to write the 2016 yearly review. (Actually, he’s hiding under his bed.) Veteran healthcare journalist and eternal optimist Candide Corn has again kindly agreed to take over the task this year. Candide’s motto is “all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.” What a great year!...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - December 21, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Classics Interventional Cardiology & Surgery People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics year in review Source Type: blogs
More Shots Fired in ‘ Sugar War ’
–Industry-sponsored study questions current guidelines on dietary sugar. Dietary guidelines relating to sugar— all of which recommend significant reductions in sugar intake— are based on weak evidence and are not trustworthy, according to a systematic review published in Annals of Internal Medicine. But an accompanying editorial points out that the systematic review is itself not...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - December 19, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Diabetes People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes Coca Cola dietary guidelines nutrition sugar Source Type: blogs
Novartis Withdraws Support For Controversial Entresto Contest
(Updated) Novartis will no longer sponsor a contest designed to support the publication of peer review articles about Entresto, the company’s important new heart failure drug. The contest is taking place on Cureus, an open access journal, publishing platform, and vehicle for industry-sponsored content. The contest offered $10,000 in rewards for articles supporting a recent...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - December 19, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Heart Failure People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics contest Entresto Guideline LCZ Novartis Source Type: blogs
Novartis Contest Rewards Positive Peer Review Articles About Entresto
(Updated) Despite the fact that it had one of the biggest clinical trial successes in recent years, the Novartis heart failure drug Entresto has been struggling to gain acceptance in the marketplace. To help improve its position Novartis has turned to an old marketing trick, though this trick– a company-sponsored competition– has rarely been used by the...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - December 15, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Classics Heart Failure People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics competition Cureus Entresto Guideline LCZ publishing Source Type: blogs
Seeking Profit and Investors, Rogue Lab Moves Into Small Hospitals
A controversial new laboratory company specializing in “advanced cardiovascular risk testing” is developing an innovative, highly profitable– and legally dubious– new business model. Details of the scheme are spelled out in a “Management Presentation” slide presentation sent to me by a confidential source. The slide presentation, according to my source, is being shown by executives at True Health...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - December 9, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Classics People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics HDL Lab Health Diagnostic Laboratory lab tests True Health Diagnostics zombie lab Source Type: blogs
The GiveAway Act
The 21st Century Cures Act should be called the 21st Century GiveAway Act. The Act may not even deliver on its main attraction– the funding of new research– but will instantly definitely give a regulatory boost to a host of special interests, including drug and device makers. As Michael Hiltzik writes in the LA Times,...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - December 6, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics 21st Century Cures Act FDA regulation summary data Source Type: blogs
Telling People What They Want To Hear: Alt-Med And Donald Trump
Donald Trump won* the election because he told people what they wanted to hear. Alternative medicine is growing in popularity because it tells people what they want to hear. Of course, there’s a big difference between telling people what they want to hear and actually delivering on those promises. He can say it as often as he...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - December 4, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics alternative medicine Trump Source Type: blogs
Genetic Studies Offer Hint Of Clinical Benefits-And Risks- of PCSK9 Inhibitors
–Both cardiovascular benefits and increase in diabetes seem likely. There is no more eagerly awaited question in cardiovascular medicine than the clinical role of the PCSK9 inhibitors. The first reports from a series of outcomes trials are not due until next year. But two large genetic studies published this week deliver strong indirect evidence that...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 30, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Diabetes Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes cholesterol genetic variants LDL Mendelian randomization PCSK9 statins Source Type: blogs
Prenatal Genetic Test Billing Practices Questioned
–Sequenom billed insurance companies $2,760 but let patients pay only $200? Patients who order an expensive prenatal genetic test from Sequenom are being told that they will not be held responsible for the vast majority of the bill if it is denied by insurance. This policy may appear to benefit patients but may be considered a...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 29, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics false claims genetic test prenatal testing Sequenom Source Type: blogs
