June 2nd, 2011
FDA: ARBs Don’t Increase Risk of Cancer
Larry Husten, PHD
Concluding a nearly one-year safety review, the FDA has announced that angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) do not increase the risk of cancer. The FDA initiated the review after a meta-analysis published in Lancet Oncology found a small but statistically significant increase in the risk of cancer among people taking ARBs. The FDA meta-analysis included 31 trials that randomized 156,000 patients.
“The FDA has completed its review of controlled trial data on more than 155,000 patients randomized to ARBs or other treatments — the largest evaluation of such data to date — and finds no evidence of an increased risk of cancer in patients who take an ARB,” said Mary Ross Southworth, Pharm. D., deputy director for safety in the Division of Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in an FDA press release.
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