Drug for heart failure increases mortality -- Spurgeon 330 (7498): 981 -- BMJ

Drug for heart failure increases mortality -- Spurgeon 330 (7498): 981 -- BMJ: "Drug for heart failure increases mortality
David Spurgeon


Patients with heart failure who were treated with the drug nesiritide to help them survive a crisis were 80% more likely to die in the month after treatment than were patients who had received traditional drugs for symptoms of acute heart failure. This was the finding of a US study published last week in JAMA ( 2005;293: 1900-5)[Abstract/Free Full Text].

The drug's manufacturer Scios, which is part of Johnson & Johnson, released a statement a day after the JAMA study appeared, saying 'labelling has been revised to include an expanded analysis of the mortality rates seen in pivotal trials of the congestive heart failure agent."