According to latest study presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting in New Orleans, giving once- or twice-weekly outpatient injections of the heart failure medication called Natrecor does not decrease the likelihood of death or hospitalization for heart or kidney problems.
Natrecor is a medication that is approved in the United States for the treatment of seriously ill, hospitalized heart failure patients. Nevertheless, at one point it was broadly used off-label by healthcare professionals who prescribed weekly injections to less ill heart failure patients. According to Forbes, they did it being convinced that the medication would provide these patients with long-term benefits.
The latest research of 920 patients discovered that this outpatient use of Natrecor offered absolutely no benefit. The result of the study should stop the practice of giving once- or twice-weekly Natrecor to outpatients, informed one of the scientists, Clyde W. Yancy, medical director of the Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute in Dallas.
Previous study indicated that Natrecor debilitated the kidneys and increased the likelihood of death. However, according to Yancy, the new research discovered no major evidence of a connection between the medication and kidney problems, elevated risk of death, or other safety issues, Forbes informed.
