Quoted from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-14/sanofi-s-multaq-doubled-deaths-from-heart-disease-in-study.html
Sanofi’s Multaq Doubled Deaths From Heart Disease in Study
By Michelle Fay Cortez and Robert Langreth - Nov 14, 2011 12:30 PM ET
Sanofi’s Multaq, approved to treat patients whose hearts intermittently race with quick and inefficient contractions, doubled the risk of death in those with a permanent form of the erratic rhythm, a study found.
Stroke and heart failure rates also rose significantly in those given Multaq during the trial of 3,236 patients, a blow for the drug that doctors thought would avoid the risks seen with earlier generations of anti-arrhythmic drugs. The research was halted in July because of the increased danger, and the results were presented today at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting in Orlando, Florida.
Doctors had hoped the drug’s ability to reduce deaths, strokes and hospitalizations in patients with occasional atrial fibrillation would carry over to those with the more serious form of the condition, said lead researcher Stuart Connolly, from the Population Health Research Institute in Hamilton, Ontario. The findings shoot down the hypothesis, he said.