New Clinical Alert Issued by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
T he National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) issued a new Clinical Alert on July 28, 2009:
NHLBI has stopped a clinical trial testing a drug treatment for pulmonary hypertension in adults with sickle cell disease nearly one year early due to safety concerns. In an interim review of safety data from 33 participants who completed 16 weeks of treatment, researchers found that, compared to participants on placebo (dummy pill), participants taking sildenafil (Revatio) were significantly more likely to have serious medical problems. The most common problem was episodes of severe pain called sickle cell crises, which resulted in hospitalization. No deaths have been associated with the drug in the clinical trial.
New Clinical Alert Issued by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). NLM Tech Bull. 2009 Jul-Aug;(369):e7.
