May 24, 2010 - Beta-Blockers May Reduce Mortality Risk, Disease Exacerbations In COPD Patients.
The Los Angeles Times (5/24, Roan) "Booster Shots" and HealthDay (5/24, Edelson) reported on a new paper appearing in the Archives of Internal Medicine "suggests that beta-blockers -- medications used to treat high blood pressure and heart rhythm disorders -- reduce respiratory infections and improve survival in people with COPD." Dutch researchers reviewed records of more than 2,200 patient and noted that COPD patients "had about a 30% reduction in deaths and disease exacerbations when treated with beta-blockers," MedPage Today (5/24, Bankhead) reported. Notably, "the results fly in the face of the conventional wisdom to avoid beta-blockers in patients with COPD." An accompanying editorial stated that the "rap against beta blockers has been that while they improve heart function, they can cause airways to contract, a problem for people with COPD." This contention was not supported in the study.
May 25, 2010 - FDA Approves Valtrex Generic.
Riverside Press Enterprise (5/25) reported Food and Drug Administration approval of a generic version of GlaxoSmithKline's herpes treatment Valtrex [valacyclovir] has been granted to Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In the most recent four quarters, Valtrex sales were reported to be close to $2 billion. Watson "said it plans soon to begin shipment of Valacyclovir Hydrochloride tablets in the 500 and 1000 mg strengths."
May 25, 2010 – FDA Warns Some Uses of PPIs May Cause Bone Fractures.
Bloomberg News (5/26, Peterson), MedPage Today (5/25, Phend),and others reported on reported on a new FDA warning relating to use of proton pump inhibitors. Specifically, "high doses or long-term use … can lead to an increased risk of bone fractures," especially for those "over the age of 50." The warning "is based on a Food and Drug Administration review of several epidemiologic studies of the treatments," revealing an association with "elevated fracture risk at the hip, wrist, and spine." WebMD (5/25, DeNoon), and HealthDay (5/25, Reinberg), provided additional reporting on the story. Notably, though consumers were advised not to stop taking PPIs without discussing with their physicians, "the FDA said they should only be taken for 14 days to help ease frequent heartburn," and "under no circumstances should over-the-counter PPIs be taken for more than three 14-day periods in a year, the agency said."
It is "not clear what the mechanism of the increased fractures is," the Los Angeles Times (5/25, Maugh) "Booster Shots" blog reported. "Most researchers believe it is due to decreased absorption of calcium from the diet because of the reduced stomach acid." It's also "possible that the drugs interfere with bone maintenance." Notably, the "drugs have previously been linked to an increased risk of contracting pneumonia and the troublesome bacterium Clostridium difficile, as well as to an increased risk of dementia." Reuters (5/26, Pierson) also covered the story.
May 26, 2010 - Experimental Drug May Boost Standard Hepatitis C Treatment Effectiveness.
The New York Times (5/26, B3, Pollack), Bloomberg News (5/26, Gibson), Dow Jones Newswire (5/26, Gryta), and Reuters (5/26, Berkrot) reported on study results of an experimental adjunct treatment for standard two drug treatment of Hepatitis C. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. has developed an "experimental hepatitis C drug" that "made treatment more effective and quicker when it was added to a standard therapy," reports. The "virus was undetectable in 75 percent of patients given 12 weeks of Vertex's medicine, called telaprevir, along with a combination therapy normally used to treat the infection, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company said...in a statement." What's more, approximately "69 percent of patients treated for eight weeks with the telaprevir regimen were hepatitis-free after 48 weeks, compared with 44 percent of those given the standard therapy alone." It is not clear whether these responses will lead to long-term sustained virologic response, nor how this compares to the addition of metformin (an inexpensive diabetes treatment) which was also found to improve results of standard Hepatitis C treatment.
May 25, 2010 - Most Physicians Prescribe Drugs For Insomnia.
Evidence-based treatment guidelines for insomnia recommend non-drug interventions as first-line therapy for insomnia. However, researchers at the American Psychiatric Association presented a poster finding almost "three-quarters of surveyed physicians reported writing prescriptions for sleep medications as their primary course of treatment,” according to reporting in MedPage Today (5/25, Fiore).
May 27, 2010 – Roughly 1 in 6 Patients Hospitalized With Stroke Are Discharged Without a Statin.
HealthDay (5/27, Mozes) and MedPage Today (5/27, Neale) reported on research published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association finding undesirable gaps in treatment of stroke patients. "Despite an increased likelihood that American stroke patients will be prescribed potentially life-saving statin medications when released from the hospital, more than 16 percent are still being discharged without such prescriptions in hand." This means “stroke patients are being unnecessarily exposed to the risk of another stroke," UCLA researchers found. The team also discovered "several factors associated with a reduced likelihood of receiving a statin at discharge, particularly female sex (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.85 to 0.89) and treatment in the South versus the West (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.78)."
May 28, 2010 – Program To Improve Prescribing Practices For Patients With Hypertension.
HealthDay (5/28, Dotinga) reported on an Academic Detailing study involving face-to-face interactions “to review current research and guidelines, doctors made small improvements in the way they prescribed medicine for patients with high blood pressure." The study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers found that after review of treatment guidelines, physicians “appeared to be more likely to prescribe certain blood pressure medications as recommended, with 8.7 percent prescribing the thiazide-type diuretics compared to 3.9 percent in the general population."
