HEALTH

Bristol-Myers Squibb Halts Drug Trial: Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said it halted a clinical trial of a heart drug, d-sotalol, after more patients taking the drug died than those taking a placebo. The New York-based drug company was testing the drug on heart attack victims at risk for cardiac arrhythmia, an abnormally fast heartbeat. Bristol-Myers said 54 of 1,373 patients given the drug died, compared to 28 of 1,389 placebo patients. The company is continuing other clinical trials of the drug. D-sotalol had a market potential of $50 million, Hemant Shah, an independent analyst in Warren, N.J., said in a research report. The company had sales of $11.4 billion last year.