Drug May Ease Angina in People With Type 2 Diabetes
03/11/13
SUNDAY, March 10 (HealthDay News) -- The drug Ranexa
(ranolazine) may help reduce chest pain in people with type 2
diabetes, a new study finds.
The drug is approved in the United States for treatment of
chronic angina (chest pain), but this is the first study to
evaluate it in patients with diabetes, heart disease and angina,
according to the researchers.
One expert not connected to the study said the findings are
welcome news for patients.
The study "demonstrates that ranolazine is very effective in
reducing angina in those with type 2 diabetes and, interestingly,
is more effective in those with higher blood sugars," said Dr.
Howard Weintraub, clinical associate professor in the department of
medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.
People with diabetes are at increased risk for heart disease,
and people with heart disease and diabetes are more likely to have
angina than those without diabetes, the researchers noted.
The study included more than 900 patients who received either
1,000 milligrams of Ranexa or an inactive placebo twice a day for
eight weeks. The patients had type 2 diabetes, heart disease and at
least one angina episode a week, and were already taking one or two
other anti-angina drugs.
Between weeks two and eight of the study, patients taking Ranexa
had an average of 3.8 angina episodes per week, compared with 4.3
episodes per week for those taking the placebo. Patients taking the
drug used 1.7 doses of nitroglycerin per week, compared with 2.1
doses per week among those in the placebo group. Nitroglycerin is
commonly used to treat or prevent episodes of chest pain in people
who have coronary artery disease (narrowing of the blood vessels
that supply blood to the heart).
The study was scheduled for presentation Sunday at the annual
meeting of the American College of Cardiology in San Francisco. It
was also published online the same day in the
Journal of the American College of Cardiologyand will appear
in the journal's May 21 print issue.
The study was funded by Gilead Sciences, Inc., which makes
Ranexa.
"Angina is associated with worse quality of life, increased risk of hospitalization and higher health care costs, and appears to be more prevalent in patients with diabetes," study lead author Dr. Mikhail Kosiborod, associate professor of medicine at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and a cardiologist at St. Luke's Mid America Heart Institute, said in a meeting news release.
"While ranolazine was shown to be effective in reducing angina in prior studies, this is the first time it has been prospectively evaluated in patients with diabetes -- a high-risk and therapeutically challenging group," he added.
The study also found that Ranexa had the strongest effect in
reducing angina episodes among patients with poor blood sugar
control. Prior research has shown that the drug may lower fasting
glucose levels in people with diabetes.
"Ranolazine is an effective anti-anginal drug in patients with diabetes and may also have a glucose [blood sugar]-lowering effect," Kosiborod said. "If the glucose-lowering action of ranolazine is confirmed in future studies, patients with diabetes and angina may derive a dual benefit from this drug."
Weintraub agreed. "As the focus of the treatment of angina in
diabetics increasingly focuses on [drug] therapy, this may offer
another choice in optimal medical care in this group of patients,"
he said.
The majority of the study patients were men (61 percent).
Ninety-six percent had high blood pressure and 74 percent had a
history of heart attack. Most patients were taking
cholesterol-lowering statins (82 percent) and heart drugs such as
ACE inhibitors (88 percent). Sixteen percent were smokers.
About 347 million people worldwide have diabetes and about 90
percent of those people have type 2 diabetes. The main causes of
type 2 diabetes are believed to be excess weight and lack of
physical activity. One in three American adults could have the
condition by the year 2050, according to the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases has more about
diabetes.
Health
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