Heart Drug Linked to Risks: A compilation...

Heart Drug Linked to Risks: A compilation of past studies on patients who took high doses of an old heart drug found they were three times more likely to die than others with heart problems. The study published in the American Heart Assn.’s medical journal Circulation underscores doubts about so-called calcium channel blockers. Another study, published earlier this month, found the drugs, commonly used to reduce high blood pressure by relaxing muscles in the veins and dilating arteries, might increase a patient’s risk of heart attack by slightly more than half. However, several companies make a new version of calcium channel blocker that has not been linked to risks. The National Institutes of Health is conducting the first comprehensive study of calcium channel blockers, expected to be completed after the year 2000.