The new procedure was coronary angioplasty, a far less invasive and expensive procedure than coronary bypass surgery that is now performed over a million times each year in the U.S. alone, while saving countless lives.
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"The post-coronary bypass data raise new issues about Bextra's safety that require a closer look, " says Steven Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic who provides unpaid consulting services for Pfizer, Merck, and other drug companies.
Medical records show New York-Presbyterian had a death rate of 3.93 percent for coronary bypass operations performed in 2001 -- higher than the 2.18 percent overall rate for the 35 hospitals in the state that perform them.
When doable, it is the favored treatment versus coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) as it is less invasive.
From 1999 through 2001, two of the 175 patients on whom Isom performed a simple coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) died, a 1.14 percent mortality rate, according to figures recently released by the New York State Department of Health.
To get close to profitability, Price is also betting on Neutralase, a drug that would be used in coronary-artery bypass graft operations--more commonly referred to as open-heart surgery.
The trial showed that patients randomized to chelation therapy had a lower risk of a combined endpoint of death, heart attack, stroke, percutaneous coronary intervention, bypass surgery or hospitalization for angina than those who received a placebo infusion.
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They also received two to three times as many pacemakers, implantable defibrillators, cardiac-bypass operations, carotid endarterectomies, and coronary-artery stents.
Cheney had suffered three heart attacks in 10 years, his first at age 37, and in 1988 underwent quadruple-bypass surgery to relieve blockages in his coronary arteries.
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