Azimilide To Be Tested In Phase III Study

Procter & Gamble has started enrolling patients into the US arm of itsPhase III study of Stedicor (azimilide), a potassium channel blocker, in post-myocardial infarction patients. P&G started recruiting patients into a European arm earlier this year.

The new trial, ALIVE (Azimilide Post-Infarct Survival Evaluation), will enroll around 6,000 post-MI patients at high risk of sudden death because of depressed left ventricular function and low heart rate variability. John Camm of St George's Hospital in London, UK, one of the lead investigators, noted that preliminary trials of azimilide have shown that it can suppress both atrial and ventricular arrhythmias and does not appear to have proarrhythmic activity or serious side effects, which have often emerged with other antiarrhythmics (Marketletters passim).