April 28th, 2015
Cardiovascular Outcomes with Sitagliptin: No Better or Worse Than Conventional Care
Larry Husten, PHD
Late Monday afternoon, Merck released the top line results of TECOS, the cardiovascular outcomes trial with its diabetes drug sitagliptin (Januvia). The company said that the trial “achieved its primary endpoint of non-inferiority for the composite cardiovascular (CV) endpoint.” Merck announced only one additional detail: “Among secondary endpoints,” they reported, “there was no increase in hospitalization for heart […]
November 7th, 2014
What You Need to Know About IMPROVE-IT
Larry Husten, PHD
The IMPROVE-IT trial will be big news when its results are finally presented on November 17 during the annual meeting of the American Heart Association. The results of the trial — underway for nearly a decade — have been long and eagerly awaited by everyone interested in cardiovascular medicine. The trial could impact the future sales of a key Merck drug, ezetimibe; because it is […]
September 2nd, 2013
Cardiovascular Outcome Studies in Diabetes Drugs Finally Arrive
Larry Husten, PHD
Large trials of two diabetes drugs show that they appear to be safe, but do not improve CV outcomes.