Johnson & Johnson's controversial heart drug Natrecor failed to reduce the risk of death or hospitalization in a new study released over the weekend at the New Orleans meeting of the American College of Cardiology. In a trial of 920 outpatient volunteers with advanced heart disease, 36.8 percent of the placebo group either died or were hospitalized compared to 36.7 percent of Natrecor patients. Researchers, though, concluded that there was no data to support a link with kidney problems or excess deaths, as an earlier study had indicated. Once billed as a potential blockbuster, the use of Natrecor has been severely restricted. A large trial to judge Natrecor's safety and effectiveness is now getting underway.
In a separate study also released in New Orleans, Otsuka Pharmaceuticals says its experimental drug tolvaptran failed to reduce the risk of death or hospitalization compared to a placebo. Its trial studied volunteers already hospitalized for heart failure.
- see this release on Natrecor
- check out this release from Otsuka
- read the report on the trial data from MarketWatch
PLUS: Schering-Plough used the New Orleans meetings as a setting to tout the mid-stage data for a new blood thinner, SCH 530348, which analysts are tapping as one of the company's most exciting drug candidates. The therapy is considered a likely blockbuster if it makes it all the way through the approval process. Release | Report
ALSO: Investigators in New Orleans reported that torcetrapib, a drug that substantially raises high-density lipoprotein cholesterol or HDL, did not slow the progression of plaque buildup in the coronary arteries as measured using an ultrasound probe. All development of torcetrapib was halted last December, after the safety board monitoring a separate large clinical outcomes trial reported that torcetrapib increased the risk of death and other adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Release