Drug News
Statins seen beneficial for nearly all diabetics
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Statins—the best-selling class of cholesterol-fighting drugs—should be considered as standard therapy for all diabetics, apart from children and pregnant women, researchers said on Friday.
A group of British and Australian investigators said the largest study of its kind, involving a pooled analysis of clinical trials involving nearly 19,000 patients with diabetes, found there was a clear benefit in taking statins.
After five years, 42 fewer people with diabetes had major vascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, for every 1,000 allocated statin therapy.
Statins may reduce risk of sudden cardiac death
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Results of a new study indicate that the so-called statin drugs used to lower cholesterol levels also help prevent chaotic heart beats that can lead to sudden cardiac death.
The study shows that statins are “associated with a significant 19 percent risk reduction for sudden cardiac death.”
NSAIDs won’t protect ultra-marathoners’ muscles
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Taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen during endurance events does not help prevent muscle damage or next-day muscle soreness, a study in ultra-marathoners indicates.
In fact, using NSAIDs during competition could actually be bad for muscles, Dr. Steven McAnulty of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina and colleagues found.
Venlafaxine extended-release effective for patients with major depression
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Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the most common major mental illness, afflicting almost one in five individuals. More than 75% of people who recover from an episode of MDD will have at least one recurrence, with the majority having multiple recurrences. MDD is the leading cause of disability of all medical illnesses, with substantial functional impairment, morbidity, and mortality. Few studies have assessed the efficacy of antidepressant medications beyond 1 year of maintenance treatment for the prevention of recurrent depression. However, a new study being published in the upcoming December 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry has done just that.
The PREVENT study, an acronym for the title of the study “The Prevention of Recurrent Episodes of Depression with Venlafaxine for Two Years study,” is, according to one of the senior authors on the paper, Dr. Martin B. Keller, “a multiphase, double-blind, randomized clinical trial designed to investigate the efficacy of the serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) venlafaxine extended release in the prevention of depressive recurrence over 2 years in patients with a history of recurrent MDD who have responded to acute and continuation treatment.” The investigators randomly assigned patients with recurrent depression to receive treatment with either venlafaxine extended-release (ER) or fluoxetine, an antidepressant already established as efficacious as a comparative medication. Although the PREVENT study followed patients for over two years, this article reports only on the acute and continuation phases, which were 10 weeks and 6 months long respectively.
Long-term pharmacotherapy for obesity and overweight: updated meta-analysis
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Patients taking anti-obesity drugs will only see “modest” weight loss and many will remain significantly obese or overweight, according to a study published on bmj.com today.
The study, which looked at the long-term effectiveness of anti-obesity medications, found that three drugs recommended for long-term use - orlistat, sibutramine and rimonabant, reduced weight by less than 5kg (11 pounds). This equated to a loss of less than 5% of total body weight. Guidelines from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommend stopping the use of anti-obesity drugs if 5% of total body weight is not lost after three months.
Cialis effective for men with spinal cord injury
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A long-acting drug for erectile dysfunction is safe and effective for men with spinal cord injuries who have difficulty achieving erections, a new study shows.
A total of 186 men were randomly assigned to receive treatment with Cialis or placebo for 12 weeks. The study was completed by 129 in the treatment group and by 34 in the placebo group. The subjects, who were an average of 38 years old, had experienced erectile dysfunction for six months or longer. They were instructed to take the drug when they planned to have sex.
FDA approves combo eye drop for glaucoma
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U.S. regulators approved a new glaucoma treatment—Combigan, an eye drop that treats the potentially blinding eye condition with two drugs that work through different mechanisms, Allergan Inc said Wednesday.
Insomnia drug improves work performance: Sanofi
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Data show improvements in work performance in patients with chronic insomnia who are treated with the sleep aid Ambien (zolpidem tartrate), French pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis said Wednesday
“Patients with chronic insomnia can have a higher frequency of work-related problems including absenteeism, an increased rate of accidents, difficulty performing duties and less job satisfaction,” Sanofi said in a statement.
Alzheimer’s drug side effects can be reduced
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Although rivastigmine improves cognitive symptoms in patients with Alzheimer’s disease whether it is given twice or three times a day, the three times a day dosing schedule tends to produce fewer side effects and thus increase tolerability, researchers report in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
“This study,” lead investigator Dr. Howard H. Feldman told Reuters Health, “suggests that for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease, rivastigmine treatment delivered in three times a day dosing—with smaller individual doses—may provide better efficacy and safety.”
Statins reduce loss of function, keeping old lungs young - even in smokers
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Statins are known to be good for lowering cholesterol and maybe even fighting dementia, and now they have another reported benefit: they appear to slow decline in lung function in the elderly— even in those who smoke. According to researchers in Boston, it may be statins’ anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that help achieve this effect.
Their findings were published in the second issue for October in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Study shows persistent benefits of statin drug
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The heart benefits of taking statin drugs may last for years, even after the drugs are stopped, researchers reported on Wednesday.
Men who took pravastatin for five years had a lower risk of death or heart attack even 10 years after they stopped taking the drug, Ian Ford of the University of Glasgow in Scotland and colleagues found.
New cancer drugs could help in autoimmune disease
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A new class of drugs used to treat cancer might be effective at suppressing overactive immune systems in patients with autoimmune diseases like Crohn’s disease, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.
“What we would be proposing would be a therapy that would enhance the body’s own immune system’s ability to regulate itself,” said Wayne Hancock of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, whose study appears in the journal Nature Medicine.
Drop in antidepressant use seen during pregnancy
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A marked fall in antidepressant use occurs when women first learn that they are pregnant, according to a report.
“It is alarming to see that there is still a fear regarding antidepressant use during pregnancy. We knew that some women were going to discontinue using their antidepressants during pregnancy but we didn’t think it would be so prevalent and inappropriately used (amongst those who remain on it),” senior author Dr. Anick Berard told Reuters Health.
Psoriasis drug shown highly effective in trial
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Johnson & Johnson’s experimental treatment for psoriasis proved safe and highly effective in a late-stage trial, positioning it as a potential strong rival to current medicines, the company said on Wednesday.
More than two-thirds of patients with moderate to severe forms of the inflammatory skin condition achieved at least a 75 percent reduction in symptoms after 12 weeks of treatment with the injectable medicine CNTO 1275 (ustekinumab), J&J said.
AstraZeneca drug extends prostate cancer survival
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Patients with advanced prostate cancer given AstraZeneca’s experimental pill ZD4054 live around seven months longer than those on placebo, according to results of a clinical trial presented on Tuesday.
But the drug - which some analysts think could be a blockbuster - failed to show an improvement in progression-free survival, a measure of how long patients survive before their condition worsens.
