Cardioprotective Drug Reduces Mortality

A landmark study has demonstrated the ability of a new cardioprotective agent to prolong long-term survival in patients who suffer heart attacks following bypass surgery.

A new study by researchers at the Ischemia Research and Education Foundation (IREF, San Bruno, CA, USA) examined patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery who suffered post-reperfusion myocardial infarction (MI). Among the overall study population, 18% of patients died within two years if they had suffered MI, compared to 4.3% of those without MI. Among placebo patients in the study, MI was associated with 27.8% mortality, compared to only 4.0% mortality in patients who had not had MI.

The 27.8% mortality rate following MIs fell to 6.5% (77% reduction) after treatment by a new drug called acadesine. The odds ratio for post-reperfusion mortality fell from 12.4 in placebo patients to 0.8 in patients treated with acadesine. The reduction in mortality was evident in the first 30 days following surgery and was sustained throughout the two-year follow-up period. The results were similar among diverse subsets of patients and multivariate analysis confirmed the findings. The study was published online in May 2006 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC).

"This is the first trial of this size to demonstrate an important reduction in mortality associated with reperfusion-induced MI in any setting of clinical revascularization, and the first to show a sustained benefit over the long term,” said lead author Dennis T. Mangano, Ph.D., M.D., and colleagues.

Acadesine, developed by PeriCor Therapeutics (New York, NY, USA), is an adenosine-regulating agent (ARA) that amplifies the body's protective response during an ischemic event. Adenosine targets a broad spectrum of the pathophysiology of ischemia/reperfusion injury that involves an even broader range of chemical mediators and cell types than was recognized only 10 years ago.



Related Links:
Ischemia Research and Education Foundation
PeriCor Therapeutics