In a striking example of how new genetic insights can transform the drug development process, researchers announced that the heart drug bucindolol was able to reduce the risk of death for any cause among 38 percent of patients sharing a genetic variation when compared to a placebo arm. Forty-four percent of the bucindolol drug group were less likely to be hospitalized for heart failure while 48 percent were less likely to die.
Bucindolol foundered in 2001 when researchers said the drug did not demonstrate a reduction in the risk of death in a major study. ARCA biopharma holds the rights to the drug and has filed for approval to treat patients following a genetic test.
"The importance of this is that you can potentially better target patients with genetically guided therapy" to achieve a treatment advantage, said Christopher O'Connor, director of the Heart Center at Duke University in Durham, N.C., lead author of the study.
- view the ARCA release
- read the report from the Wall Street Journal