Life Science log

£10-a-week ivabradine, also known as Procoralan, cut patients' risk of death from heart failure by 26% over two-year trialA pill for chest pains that costs around £10 per week could save the lives of thousands of heart failure patients. It would also save the NHS millions by reducing hospital admissions by a quarter, trial results have shown.One expert involved in the trial - the largest so far published on heart failure - described the evidence as a "significant breakthrough" and said it would compel him to change his clinical practice. At a conservative estimate, up to 10,000 deaths per year in the UK could be prevented, he said.The drug, ivabradine, also known under the brand name Procoralan, is already available in the UK for angina and is known to be safe. The trial results, presented today at the European Society of Cardiology annual meeting in Stockholm and published in the Lancet medical journal, suggest that ivabradine could be resurrected as a cost-effective treatment for many thousands of patients