Heart Drug for U.S. Blacks Can Cut Costs -Study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new heart-failure drug for blacks can reduce the amount it costs to treat the disease by 34 percent, researchers said on Monday.

Patients receiving the combination drug, Nitromed Inc.'s BiDil, in addition to standard therapy averaged $5,997 in heart-failure-related costs a year, excluding the cost of the medication, compared with $9,144 in patients taking a placebo, they found.

The results of their study, funded by Nitromed, appear in Circulation, the Journal of the American Heart Association.

In June, BiDil became the first medicine approved for one specific race by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. African Americans have been found more likely than others to develop heart failure and to die early from the disease.

Dr. Jalal Ghali, a cardiologist at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, said it usually costs more to help patients fare better.

"This drug actually reduced costs in addition to improving outcome," said Ghali, who helped lead an earlier study showing the drug was safe and effective.

Researchers combed through the earlier data, analyzing how often patients made unscheduled doctor's visits or hospital emergency room trips. They also noted how long patients were hospitalized.

Costs were estimated using data from Medicare, the U.S. insurance program for the elderly and disabled.

Overall, annual health-care costs for patients taking BiDil were 22 percent lower than those taking placebo, an average of $15,384 compared to $19,728, the study said.

Although the data covered one year, Dr. Derek Angus, the study's lead author and a professor of Critical Care Medicine and Health Policy and Management at the University of Pittsburgh, said researchers projected the drug would still save money over time.

The drug combines two generic medicines that dilate blood vessels and is designed to treat congestive heart failure, which weakens the heart over time and impairs the heart's ability to pump.

About 5 million Americans have been diagnosed with heart failure, and about 3.1 percent to 3.5 percent of them are African American, according to the American Heart Association.

The association's president-elect, Raymond Gibbons, said the findings were impressive, but questioned whether they would hold up under real-world use.

Patients participating in a study are more likely to take their drugs, but "the average daily drug cost of $6.38 is likely to pose a substantial barrier for many patients, which may lead to lower compliance and less impressive results," he said.

Angus agreed, saying doctors should help make sure patients take their medicines as prescribed. "Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness are only as good as how well doctors and patients end up mimicking what happened in the trial," he told Reuters.

Company officials could not be immediately reached for comment.