• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Amgen Drug May Decrease Heart Failure Mortality

Posted on: Monday, 19 June 2006, 12:00 CDT

A pooled analysis of two phase II trials of Amgen's anemia drug Aranesp show that the drug may decrease the risk of heart failure hospitalization and all-cause mortality in heart failure patients.

Biotechnology company Amgen presented the data at the European Society of Cardiology-Heart Failure Congress.

Approximately 20 to 30% of people diagnosed with heart failure also suffer from anemia, resulting in increased risk of morbidity and mortality versus patients who suffer from heart failure without anemia. Even though there are current, approved therapies to treat heart failure, a significant unmet medical need to treat the disease and its complications still exists.

The results from the pooled analysis of the phase II trials validate Amgen's phase III RED-HF trial to address this unmet medical need.

"These results are especially encouraging because, currently, there are no approved treatments to address the debilitating effects of anemia associated with symptomatic heart failure," said Dr Dirk van Veldhuisen, Department of Cardiology/Thoracic Surgery, University Medical Center, Groningen, Netherlands.

Source: Datamonitor

More News in this Category