Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine -- Phoenix have shown for the first time in preclinical studies that Aliskiren, a drug that inhibits the enzyme that regulates blood pressure, can delay the progression of congestive heart failure and lengthen survival rates.
More than 5 million Americans live with congestive heart failure, a chronic progressive condition that occurs when the heart muscle doesn't pump blood as well as it should.
"This FDA-approved drug has the potential to improve the quality and extend the life in properly identified heart failure patients," said Ryan Sullivan, DVM, assistant professor in the college's Department of Internal Medicine and lead author of the study, "Normalizing Plasma Renin Activity in Experimental Dilated Cardiomyopathy: Effects on Edema, Cachexia, and Survival," published in the August 2019 edition of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, as part of a Special Issue Heart Failure: From Molecular Basis to Therapy.
"That's an extra 5.6 years with loved ones that otherwise would not be possible. Obviously, further studies are needed, along with human clinical trials, but we are excited about our research direction and what those outcomes could mean for the college and the people of Arizona and beyond."
The Cardiovascular Disease Research group from the UA College of Medicine -- Phoenix Department of Internal Medicine used a new technology to evaluate changes in muscle mass and fluid retention over time in heart failure. Using this noninvasive technology, they showed that Aliskiren blocked muscle loss, prevented fluid retention and saved lives.
Journal Reference: Ryan D. Sullivan, Radhika M. Mehta, Ranjana Tripathi, Inna P. Gladysheva, Guy L. Reed. Normalizing Plasma Renin Activity in Experimental Dilated Cardiomyopathy: Effects on Edema, Cachexia, and Survival. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2019; 20 (16): 3886 DOI: 10.3390/ijms20163886
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday October 16 2019, @06:31PM
What kind of crazyness are they thinking?
If you eat an entire cake without cutting it, you technically only had one piece.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday October 17 2019, @12:18AM
Newer antihypertensives (i.e., drugs that aren't diuretics or direct vasodilators like hydralazine) work at differing points along the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Aliskiren is the only direct renin inhibitor, while the *pril class of drugs prevents conversion of angiotensin I to II and the *sartan class antagonizes angiotensin receptors. The body eventually adapts to *pril/*sartan drugs by upregulating renin; this stuff cuts the process off early, as renin itself cleaves plasma angiotensinogen to angiotensin I.
The side effects for this stuff are fairly similar to the ACE inhibitors and ARBs, which makes sense, but a little research shows bad interactions with existing diabetes and renal disease. So people with co-occurring heart failure and kidney function issues might not be able to make use of this one. The problem with all these new wonder drugs is that they're often developed and tested in symptomatic isolation; in the real world, many patients needing this kind of pharmacologic intervention have comorbid conditions and are already probably taking one or more drugs to begin with. Drug/disease and drug/drug interactions are a massive bitch :/
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 17 2019, @02:01AM
...death.
(Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Thursday October 17 2019, @03:38AM
A citation in the wikipedia article implies that this stuff has been around at least since 2007. It's not particularly safe and other drug choices may be better.