Garret FitzGerald MD, FRS, chairman of the Pharmacology Department and director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, has been awarded the 2013 Grand Prix Scientifique by the Institut de France.

A report in the April 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association offered another glimpse into a clinical trial to evaluate expanded uses of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). In what is likely the first of its kind, the study is being conducted by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS).

The New York Times revisited the controversy over chelation therapy, allowing the TACT (Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy) lead investigator Gervasio A. Lamas, MD, to share his observations: “If you had asked any cardiologist, to a man or to a woman, they would have said this study would be negative, and that included me and my associates. But it wasn’t, and that’s the one thing we should be focusing on.” Cardiology guru Eric Topol, MD, also weighs in.

A panel for the European Medicines Agency recommended that a strontium ranelate, a treatment for osteoporosis, be restricted because of possible increased risk of cardiac problems.

AtheroNova Inc. (OTCBB:AHRO), a biotech company focused on the research and development of compounds to safely regress atherosclerotic plaque and improve lipid profiles in humans, today announced that John Kastelein, MD, Ph.D., Chairman of the department of vascular medicine and Strategic Chair of Genetics in Cardiovascular Disease at the Academic Medicine Center of the University of Amsterdam, has joined the Company as a member of the Medical Advisory Board and will be a Co-Principal Investigator in the Company's upcoming clinical trials. 

Darwin Labarthe, MD, MPH, PhD, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, proposes that an emphasis on cardiovascular health rather than cardiovascular disease heralds a “positive health” revolution. In a blog post on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s website, he discusses the idea of health assets. 

The FDA took aim at DMAA again, warning that the amphetamine derivative poses cardiovascular risks, including the potential for arrhythmias and MI. “Dietary supplements containing DMAA are illegal and FDA is doing everything within its authority to remove these products from the market,” according to the agency.

The Canadian Diabetes Association recommends statin therapy for patients with diabetes mellitus who are 40 years old or older in its 2013 Clinical Practice Guidelines.