FierceBiotechFierceBiotechResearchFierceBiotechITFierceVaccinesFiercePharmaFiercePharmaManufacturing   FierceHealthcare

Free Newsletter

About | View Sample | Privacy

Drug used to treat COPD increases mortality

Tools

The drug ipratropium bromide (Atrovent, Combivent) significantly raised the risk of mortality by cardiovascular death in patients undergoing COPD treatment, according to researchers. In addition, exposure to the medication theophylline was associated with an increased risk of respiratory death, but not cardiovascular death.

The Annals of Internal Medicine published the study findings in the September 16, 2008 issue. The findings are the result of a large-scale study of U.S. Veterans Health Administration health care system patient data.

Researchers followed a cohort of patients enrolled in the U.S. Veterans Health Administration health care system to assess mortality rates at one year.

It remains unclear if the elevated risk applies to women or patients with longstanding or severe COPD. The researchers found a 34 percent increased risk of cardiovascular death and all-cause mortality in patients using the medication to relieve the symptoms of COPD.

On the other hand, inhaled corticosteroids, the researchers found, were associated with a 20 percent decrease in cardiovascular and all cause mortality.

- see the Annals of Internal Medicine release
- read the Medpage Today article
- find the study abstract at PubMed

Related Articles:
Sepracor inks $47M IP licensing deal with Arrow
Theravance wins $10M milestone on Phase II data
FDA rejects GSK's Advair for COPD (Aug  2007)
Advair fails to hit goal in COPD trial (Mar 2007)

Bookmark and Share
Get Your FREE FiercePharma Email Newsletter:
Be the first to comment
More stories about COPD   drug safety   Theophylline   ipratropium bromide   Combivent   Atrovent  

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

More information about formatting options

To combat spam, please enter the code in the image.