CAUTION ISSUED FOR HYPERTENSION DRUG.Byline: Lauran Neergaard Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. People taking an old version of the drug nifedipine nifedipine /ni·fed·i·pine/ (ni-fed´i-pen) a calcium channel blocking agent used as a coronary vasodilator in the treatment of coronary insufficiency and angina pectoris; also used in the treatment of hypertension. to treat high blood pressure should ask their doctors about changing medication, government scientists said Thursday. But they recommended no change for millions of Americans on other hypertension drugs. The decision by scientific advisers to the Food and Drug Administration should help settle intense controversy about a class of blood pressure drugs called calcium channel blockers Calcium Channel Blockers Definition Calcium channel blockers are medicines that slow the movement of calcium into the cells of the heart and blood vessels. . "People have been very worried," said FDA FDA abbr. Food and Drug Administration FDA, n.pr See Food and Drug Administration. FDA, n.pr the abbreviation for the Food and Drug Administration. drug chief Dr. Robert Temple. For the vast majority of patients, "we didn't see any reason to change their therapy." The only drug the FDA advisers expressed concern about was an old version of nifedipine, sold under the brand names Adalat and Procardia, that must be taken four times a day. Many doctors use a new, one-a-day version that appears very safe, the FDA emphasized. But people taking the older, worrisome version should not stop taking it on their own because suddenly dropping a drug can cause a dangerous jump in blood pressure. Instead, they should see a doctor to discuss a better alternative, Temple said. "There is at least some evidence . . . that it's not a good thing," Temple said. The controversy arose last summer when small studies suggested that calcium channel blockers could nearly triple patients' death rates and increase by 60 percent the risk of a heart attack. For every 1,000 patients treated for hypertension, 10 are expected to have a heart attack within a year, but the studies found 16. And while two deaths per 100 patients would be expected, the study found six. The risk considered enough for the FDA to debate whether to add a warning to the drugs' labels that they should not be given to people at risk of a heart attack because of high blood pressure or a type of chest pain called unstable angina un·sta·ble angina n. Angina pectoris characterized by pain of coronary origin that occurs in response to less exercise or other stimuli than usually required to produce pain. . The FDA committee concluded that calcium channel blockers as a whole should not cause concern. In fact, the drug verapamil verapamil /ve·rap·a·mil/ (ve-rap´ah-mil) a calcium channel blocker that dilates coronary arteries and decreases myocardial oxygen demand, used as the hydrochloride salt in the treatment of angina pectoris and of hypertension and the , sold as the brands Calan and Isoptin, actually decreased patients' risk of worsening wors·en tr. & intr.v. wors·ened, wors·en·ing, wors·ens To make or become worse. Noun 1. worsening - process of changing to an inferior state decline in quality, deterioration, declension heart disease. The FDA usually follows the recommendations of its advisory panels. Some 6 million Americans take any of the 10 calcium channel blockers sold in this country, but only about 10 percent take the older versions. |
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