Drug that is designed for blacks

Pumbaa · medicine forum Guru Wannabe Joined: 05 May 2005 Posts: 107

"If approved by the FDA, BiDil will provide new hope to black heart-failure
patients," said NitroMed's Manuel Worcel.

More than 700,000 U.S. blacks suffer from heart failure, in which the heart
is progressively weakened by heart attacks, high blood pressure, diabetes or
some other factor, leaving victims increasingly weak, struggling for breath
and eventually dying. Blacks are especially prone to it, are often younger
when the condition is diagnosed, tend to respond more poorly to existing
treatments, and are more likely to die from it.

BiDil combines two drugs -- isosorbide dinitrate and hydralazine -- that
have been used separately for years to treat chest pain and high blood
pressure. The combination appears to boost levels of nitric oxide in the
blood, helping to expand blood vessels."

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I bet heart specialists are already using that combination on a lot of
patients. But maybe this will help some of the doctors and pharmacists who
get most of their information from drug salespeople.

A cost conscious physician can order the generics and have the patient take
two inexpensive tablets instead one expensive one. Combine two old drugs and
call it a new drug and get a 13 year patent extension. No wonder we have the
highest Rx drug prices in the world. It sounds like magic to me. I see some
people don't like the idea that the drug is labeled for "black" patients
only. As a Pharmacist I once got called a racist because I said that
certain drugs just do not work as well on black people as whites and the
reverse. I never understood what is wrong with people being different in
their genetic makeup and thus responding differently to certain drugs and
diseases.

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