Islamabad, Feb 24 (TNS): Drug repurposing is one of the fastest and most effective routes to new medical treatments. Researchers reveal how such a strategy may yield a new treatment for heart failure.
Researchers suggest that the gout drug probenecid may help to treat heart failure. In a new study, the team found that probenecid which is a drug commonly used to treat gout improved heart function in a small number of individuals with heart failure.
First study author Nathan Robbins from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio and colleagues recently reported their findings in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Heart failure is a condition that arises when the heart is unable to pump oxygen-rich blood well enough to support other organs. It is estimated that heart failure affects around 5.7 million adults in the United States, and around 50 percent of people who have the condition die within 5 years of being diagnosed.
buy aciphex online www.mobleymd.com/wp-content/languages/new/aciphex.html no prescription
Though there is no cure for heart failure, treatments exist that help to manage the condition.
buy strattera online www.mobleymd.com/wp-content/languages/new/strattera.html no prescription
Some of these treatments, such as a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD), concentrate on improving the heart’s function.
An LVAD is a battery-powered device surgically implanted into the patient’s heart. It draws in blood from the left ventricle of the heart, before transporting it to the aorta, or the artery that distributes blood to the rest of the body. In their new study, Robbins and team reveal how probenecid may offer a noninvasive alternative to such treatments, after finding that the gout drug improved the heart-pumping action of people with heart failure.
As part of the double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study, all the participants either took probenecid or a placebo over 4-week periods between June 2013 and April 2015. Subjects’ ejection fraction, or the heart’s ability to pump blood, was measured by echocardiogram. Other measures of heart function included an electrocardiogram and a 6-minute walk test. Compared with the placebo, the researchers found that probenecid led to improvements in ejection fraction. This is the first time,” states Robbins, “probenecid has been used in heart failure patients and we showed it increases the ejection fraction in patients with heart failure. It was exciting to be able to see this medicine work from the bench to the bedside.
