Anaheim, CA-The largest trial of cholesterol-lowering therapy ever conducted extends the current indications for statin therapy, reported Rory Collins, MD.

An agent developed specifically for the treatment of angina reduces the incidence of major coronary events, reported Henry Dargie, MD, who presented the results of a trial known as the Impact of Nicorandil in Angina (IONA). It is believed to be the first large-scale trial to report on the effects of a specific antianginal drug on clinical outcome.

Ranolazine, the first in a new class of antianginal agents called the partial fatty acid oxidation (pFOX) inhibitors, improves exercise performance and reduces angina frequency in patients who still have symptoms despite treatment with other antianginal medications, according to Bernard Chaitman, MD. He reported the results of a Phase III study called the Combination Assessment of Ranolazine in Stable Angina (CARISA).

According to the results of an extended follow-up of the African American Study of Kidney Disease and Hypertension (AASK), long-term reduction of blood pressure to a lower goal than the standard demonstrates no significant effect on the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in nondiabetic hypertensive patients, except in patients with baseline urinary protein/creatinine ratio >0.22, said Jackson Wright, MD, professor of medicine and director of the hypertension program at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. These results were presented at the 23rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Hypertension, New Orleans, May 14–17, 2008.

An investigational first-in-class dual angiotensin and endothelin receptor antagonist lowered systolic blood pressure (SBP) in patients with stage 1 and 2 hypertension in a phase 2a trial, reported Joel M. Neutel, MD, associate professor of medicine, University of California, Irvine, and medical director of clinical pharmacology, Orange County Research Center, Tustin, California. These results were presented at the 23rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Hypertension, New Orleans, May 14–17, 2008.

The combination of amlodipine and olmesartan was demonstrated to be superior to monotherapy with either agent in difficult-to-treat hypertensive populations in a subgroup analysis of the registrational trial for this combination therapy. These results were presented at the 23rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Hypertension, New Orleans, May 14–17, 2008.

Real-time continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) can significantly improve glycemic control, but it will not help all patients. "Real-time CGM will add significantly to glucose management for some people, but not for all," said Irl Hirsch, MD, University of Washington, Seattle. "Human factors make all the difference between success and failure. Some patients will never figure it out. That?s why real-time control is so challenging.

The risk of fracture is probably only slightly increased in persons with type 2 diabetes, said Peter Vestergaard, MD, PhD, DrMedSc, from the Osteoporosis Clinic, Aarhus Amtssygehus, Denmark.

Good glycemic control is not sufficient to relieve painful diabetic neuropathy, necessitating investigation of other modalities to achieve analgesic efficacy. Dan Ziegler, MD, German Diabetes Clinic, German Diabetes Center, and professor of internal medicine, Leibniz Institute at the Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, provided an overview of pharmacologic treatments that have been explored for painful diabetic neuropathy and the success achieved with each.