Heart drug for blacks to be first pill sold for a specific race

I can't decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Being black myself, I don't think that I trust the powers that be enough to actually come up with something for just a minority group, reguardless of whoever they are...probably will make all of the males sterile or something..

NEW ORLEANS A two-drug pill dramatically reduces deaths among blacks with heart failure. That landmark finding is expected to lead to government approval of the first medication marketed for a specific race.

www.klfy.com...

Bentov

[edit on 9-11-2004 by bentov]

Well read the article - the drug itself isn't for one minority group, it was just tested on black people and is being marketted to black americans. The author quotes the doctor in the study as saying that the drug "could benefit whites" but was just not given to them in trials. It could be that black americans are 2.5 times more likely to develop the kind of heart disease this medication is set to help, so they were the best group for such a study as they would show much more dramatic results.

Earlier research suggested that standard drugs called ACE inhibitors don't work as well in blacks. It also suggested that blacks may have lower amounts of nitric oxide, which plays many roles in heart health, in their blood.

The new pill has two chemicals which boost nitric oxide.

There is a lot of "suggesting" and not a lot of "proven" going on here too. If its effective, then GREAT, and if it helps black americans more than white americans or hispanic americans, then more power to it. I see no problem at all with that kind of "bias" if its more helpful than an "equal oppourtunity" drug. I hope, however, that it is not pushed aside or assumed to be not profitable enough to be fully developed if black americans are less likely to have pricey health care than other groups or some other BS reason.

Bentov, the part you mentioned about the drug for one minority group making males sterile can be a real fear in many parts of the world thinking the US and all the aid and medicines and condoms given are a secret way to prevent reproduction and stop their group from growing. I would hope that doesn't happen, and that with all the testing done on drugs int he US that it wouldnt and couldnt happen. The article mentioned the approval of black cardiologists - I wonder if they were involved in the creation of this drug and might reduce some fears of conspiracy.

Whats that? Racial differences? Scandal scandal!

With the issues that Merck is going through with Vioxx, one can only wonder what "surprises" are in store for us with this one. I hate to be so non-trusting, but just doing a little research can show that our goverment and even medical istitutions have a history of dangerous research on blacks, other minorities, and those that are poor. I work at a hostpital in Cincinnati, Ohio and there is a plaque(well hidden I might add) that is an apology for doing radion testing on unsuspecting people.

Bentov

I see no problems with Racial drugs, Certains races are prown to different things, in Black Americans , Sickle Cell for example is. It makes sense there are Some differences that may benifit certain races more than others.

Just dont let Puffy get into the Pill game =)