Reuters has a second story out this weekend -- implicating ARBs -- the class to which Merck's Cozaar® belongs, in elevated lung cancer rates. [Friday, it was elevated cardiovascular event risks.] Again, the same caveats apply (mentioned here, on Friday) -- but do go read Reuters' piece:
. . . .The drugs did not appear to increase the risk of death from cancer, but the team said cancers can develop slowly and cancer deaths might not show up in the relatively short studies.
Just three out of seven FDA-approved drugs -- telmisartan, losartan [Cozaar], and candesartan -- were studied, and it is not clear what affect other drugs in the class might have on cancers.
Nevertheless, they said given how widely the drugs are used, the risk is worth further study. . . .
Indeed, worth study -- though to be fair, the effect seems very small (much smaller than the CV risk story, of Friday). Of course, Cozaar is now a generic drug, as well -- so the U.S. sales fall-off will be inevitable.
2 comments:
Condor has posted the essence of this already. But below may also be useful. As a cancer researcher, I struggle to come up with a mechanism for increased cancer rates... but saw it was pointed out that ARBs may increase new blood vessel formation... which could help pre-existing tumors grow... not so much to 'cause' the cancer, but rather provide nutrients for tiny tumors to grow. (BTW, the Roche drug Avastin targets the de novo formation of blood vessels.)
"Research Links ARBs To Increased Risk Of Cancer.
The AP (6/14, Cheng) reports that, "in an analysis of five previous studies following about 60,000 patients, experts found a link between people taking medicines known as angiotensin-receptor blockers, or ARBs, and cancer." Investigators "researchers found that people who took the drugs had about a one percent higher risk of getting cancer than people who weren't on the drugs. This included a whole range of cancers - prostate, breast and a noticeable spike in lung cancer." The research is published online in the Lancet Oncology.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer (6/14, Townsend) reports, however, that the researchers said "We need more studies. We need more analysis to further clarify the risk."
The UK's Daily Mail (6/14, Martin) reports, "The findings showed that 7.2 per cent of patients taking ARBs were diagnosed with a new cancer over a period of four years, compared with six per cent of patients not treated with the drugs."
The UK's Press Association (6/14) reports that "more than 85% of the patients were taking one type of ARB, telmisartan."
Bloomberg News (6/14, Matsuyama) reports, however, that "Astellas Pharma Inc. and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH said" that "telmisartan...is safe based on patient studies, refuting" the new "finding."
MedPage Today (6/13, Smith) reported that the researchers "said their analysis was prompted by the result of a 2003 trial of one of the drugs, which showed an unexpected increase in the proportion of fatal cancers among those getting the medication."
BBC News (6/14, Wilkinson) reports that "it is not clear why ARBs may increase cancer risk, but some animal studies suggest there may be a link with blood vessel growth in tumours."
The CNN (6/13, Falco) "Paging Dr. Gupta" blog reported that "in an accompanying editorial, Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic...suggests the results of this analysis require 'urgent regulatory review.'" But, "Dr. Nicholas Vogelzang, an expert on several cancers and spokesman for the American Society of Clinical Oncology disagrees. He says he's fairly skeptical about the study conclusion, because the only statistically significant rise was in lung cancer." The Wall Street Journal (6/14, Loftus, subscription required), Reuters (6/14, Steenhuysen), HeartWire (6/13, Nainggolan), and HealthDay (6/13, Edelson) also covered the story."
Thanks, GSS!
Namaste
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