ACC In Brief
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
PREVU(x) POC in action: A skin sterol testing method was successfully employed to detect subclinical vascular disease, according to an 81-subject study presented by Wendy Tzou, MD, University of Wisconsin Medical School, et al., at the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session in Orlando, Fla. March 7. Carotid intima media thickness, "a well-established marker of atherosclerosis," was significantly higher among patients in the population exhibiting the highest skin sterol measurement using PREVU(x) Point of Care test, according to the test's marketer, Toronto-based IMI. The data "confirm that skin sterol testing has the ability to help identify patients at risk of heart disease non-invasively and cost effectively," CEO Brent Norton asserts. IMI signed a marketing agreement with McNeil last year and is developing an OTC version of the product (1"The Tan Sheet" June 7, 2004, p. 10)...
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PREVU(x) POC in action: A skin sterol testing method was successfully employed to detect subclinical vascular disease, according to an 81-subject study presented by Wendy Tzou, MD, University of Wisconsin Medical School, et al., at the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session in Orlando, Fla. March 7. Carotid intima media thickness, "a well-established marker of atherosclerosis," was significantly higher among patients in the population exhibiting the highest skin sterol measurement using PREVU(x) Point of Care test, according to the test's marketer, Toronto-based IMI. The data "confirm that skin sterol testing has the ability to help identify patients at risk of heart disease non-invasively and cost effectively," CEO Brent Norton asserts. IMI signed a marketing agreement with McNeil last year and is developing an OTC version of the product (1 (Also see "McNeil Reaches Consumer Cholesterol Testing Licensing Deal With IMI" - Pink Sheet, 7 Jun, 2004.), p. 10).... Statin dosing: Heart disease patients taking 80 mg atorvastatin (Pfizer's Lipitor ) experienced 22% fewer CV events, including CHD death, non-fatal MI, resuscitated cardiac arrest and strokes compared to patients on a 10 mg regimen, John La Rosa, MD, New York Health Science Center, Brooklyn, et al., report at ACC. The 80 mg arm of the five-year, 10,000-patient Treating to New Targets (TNT) study lowered mean LDL levels significantly below the current goal of 100 mg/dL to 77 mg/dL. "We need further reassurance as to the safety of this approach before we can advocate a major shift in our current goals for LDL cholesterol levels in patients with stable CHD," Bertram Pitt, MD, University of Michigan, cautions in an editorial accompanying the same-day New England Journal of Medicine publication of TNT.... St. John's wort and Plavix: The authors of a small study finding that St. John's wort "appears to amplify the action of" Bristol-Myers Squibb blood-thinning agent Plavix (clopidogrel) are "planning to recruit researchers to launch a larger study later this year." The trial involved six healthy people "selected for their body's low response to clopidogrel's blood-thinning properties," Wei Lau, MD, University of Michigan, et al., state. The participants first received only clopidogrel 450 mg to confirm through a platelet-aggregation test that they had less than a 30% relative decrease in platelet aggregation. After a two-week washout period, patients were given 300 mg St. John's wort three times daily for two weeks, then another 450 mg of clopidogrel and monitored again for six hours. "All six subjects showed a major decline in platelet aggregation, which was most significant at four hours after clopidogrel was given." The effect could "increase the risk of bleeding among those who take both substances," the authors conclude.... |