Abbott heart drug shows scant benefit-study

DALLAS (Reuters) – Abbott Laboratories Inc.’s experimental
heart failure drug Simdax failed to significantly improve
survival over the current standard treatment for the sickest
patients after 180 days, according to a new study presented on
Wednesday.

The drug showed early benefit in reducing death in the
1,327-patient study comparing Simdax to dobutamine. But
Abbott’s drug did not meet the main goal of reducing death by
25 percent after six months, researchers who presented the data
said at the American Heart Association annual scientific
meeting in Dallas.