Ivabradine lowers heart beat rates without reducing blood pressure A pill costing less than £1.50 a day has the potential to save the lives of thousands of heart failure patients, medical trials suggest.
The drug, ivabradine, is already available in the UK to treat angina.
Prof Martin Cowie, who led the UK-based part of the study, said it could save up to 10,000 lives each year.
The trial involved more than 6,500 people in 37 countries who already used standard treatments such as beta-blocker drugs.
Over a typical study period of two years, ivabradine cut the risk of death from heart failure by 26%.
It had a similar impact on the likelihood of patients being admitted to hospital.
The research findings were presented at the European Society of Cardiology annual meeting in Stockholm.
“It is vital that the results of this study are implemented and ivabradine is used as part of standard heart failure treatment as soon as possible”
Prof Martin Cowie
More than 700,000 people over the age of 45 are thought to live with heart failure, which occurs when damage to the heart leaves it too weak to pump blood efficiently round the body.
Heart failure uses up 1% to 2% of the total NHS budget and direct medical costs alone amounting to £625m each year.
Unlike other treatments, such as beta-blockers, ivabradine lowers the number of heartbeats per minute without also reducing blood pressure.
Prof Cowie, a consultant cardiologist at London’s Royal Brompton Hospital, said estimates that 10,000 deaths could be prevented in the UK by prescribing the drug to eligible patients were conservative.
He said: “The evidence represents a significant clinical breakthrough in the management of heart failure and is incredibly important information for patients with this condition.
“We now know that more lives can be saved and improved simply by adding ivabradine to their current treatment in order to take some of the strain off the heart.
“It is vital that the results of this study are implemented and ivabradine is used as part of standard heart failure treatment as soon as possible.”
Although ivabradine is already available in the UK for angina – the pain caused by insufficient blood reaching the heart – it is only prescribed to about 10% of patients with the condition.
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