Clinical Alert from The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

Commonly Used Three-drug Regimen for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Found Harmful.

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health, has stopped one arm of a three arm multi-center, clinical trial studying treatments for the lung-scarring disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) for safety concerns.

The trial found that people with IPF receiving a currently used triple-drug therapy consisting of prednisone, azathioprine, and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) had worse outcomes than those who received placebos or inactive substances.

Detailed information on this clinical alert can be found at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/databases/alerts/2011_nhlbi_ifp.html

Clinical Alert

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Issues New Clinical Alert on Angioplasty Combined with Stenting Plus Aggressive Medical Therapy vs. Aggressive Medical Therapy Alone for Intracranial Arterial Stenosis: NINDS Stops Trial Enrollment Due to a Higher Risk of Stroke and Death in the Stented GroupLink:  http://www.nlm.nih.gov/databases/alerts/clinical_alerts.html

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