In patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS), implementation of a sensitive troponin assay increased the diagnosis of MI and identified patients at high risk of recurrent MI and death in the following year, according to a study in the March 23/30 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. However, one researcher expresses caution about lowering the troponin threshold for MI.

Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Takeda Pharmaceutical have suspended clinical activities in an ongoing phase II study examining the safety and effectiveness of the investigational combination therapy pramlintide/metreleptin for the treatment of obesity.

The diabetes drug rosiglitazone (Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline) has already been suspended in Europe and is available in the U.S. and Canada on a restricted basis. A new study supports such actions as it has found the drug to be associated with significantly higher odds of congestive heart failure, heart attack and death compared with pioglitazone (Actos, Takeda Pharmaceuticals).

Combining angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) in elderly patients increased kidney failure and death when compared with monotherapy, according to a study published in the March 21 issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Data evaluating an association between serum levels of phosphorus, calcium or parathyroid hormone as risk factors for chronic kidney disease patients are lacking and larger randomized controlled trials (RCTs) should be conducted to better evaluate whether treating mineral disorders can improve these patients outcomes, according to a meta-analysis published in the March 16 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Tolerx and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have announced that the phase III DEFEND-1 study of otelixizumab, an investigational humanized anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody, did not meet the primary efficacy endpoint of change in C-peptide at month 12 in patients with new-onset autoimmune type 1 diabetes.

Meta-analyses of pharmacological interventions published in medical journals rarely report funding sources or author-industry financial ties, despite being disclosed in randomized controlled trial reports, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. This has the potential to compromise the reader's understanding of the evidence.

Researchers found no significant differences in acute decompensated heart failure patients global assessment of symptoms or renal function when diuretic therapy was administered by bolus as compared with continuous infusion of intravenous furosemide or a low-dose strategy compared with a high-dose strategy, according to the DOSE trial published in the March 3 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.