Health Professional News
Basel, 23 June 2003
New landmark trial
demonstrates Dilatrend saves significantly more lives than metoprolol
Patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) treated with the comprehensive beta blocking agent, Dilatrend (carvedilol), gained a highly significant survival benefit (17 percent, p=0.0017) compared to the beta-1 selective beta blocker, metoprolol. These were the findings of the Carvedilol or Metoprolol European Trial (COMET), released today at the European Society of Cardiology’s Heart Failure 2003 meeting during the official Hot Line session1 and to be published in The Lancet on Saturday 5th July, 2003.
With more than 14,000 patient years of follow up, COMET is the largest and longest study in CHF and the first head-to-head survival study comparing two beta blocking agents in patients with CHF. It was designed to investigate whether Dilatrend was superior in terms of survival to metoprolol in the treatment of patients with CHF. These two drugs, although both are classified as beta blockers, have different properties, notably that Dilatrend provides not only beta1 receptor blockade, but in addition blocks beta2 and beta1 receptors and displays additional ancillary properties.
“The results of COMET provide clear evidence of the superior survival benefits of carvedilol over metoprolol in the treatment of chronic heart failure and suggest that carvedilol prolongs the life of patients by 1.4 years compared to metoprolol,” commented Professor Philip Poole-Wilson, Chairman of the COMET Steering Committee. “Carvedilol’s significant survival benefit could mean thousands of lives saved each year. The results will have a major impact on clinical practice.”
“The COMET results confirm that Dilatrend is the superior choice to metoprolol in the treatment of chronic heart failure,’’ said William M. Burns, Head of the Pharmaceutical Division at Roche. “COMET adds to the extensive body of evidence on Dilatrend, the most studied beta blocking agent in CHF, demonstrating Dilatrend’s efficacy, safety and tolerability across the whole spectrum of patients.’’
About chronic heart
failure
Experts suggest that there may be more than 10 million people with CHF
in Europe alone. There are approximately 2-3 new cases of CHF per 1,000 of the population per year in
Europe, whilst in the US there are 400,000 new cases diagnosed annually. Prognosis for CHF is generally
poor, with around half of all patients diagnosed dying within 3-5 years - a death rate similar to that
of patients with lung cancer. Quality of life for patients, especially with more severe disease, is
low.
About Dilatrend
In contrast to conventional
beta blocker agents which block only the beta1 adrenergic receptor, Dilatrend is a comprehensive beta1,
beta2 and alpha1 receptor blocker. The alpha1 blocking capability of Dilatrend causes peripheral blood
vessels to dilate, and for this reason, Dilatrend is also classified as a ‘vasodilating’ beta blocker.
This feature of Dilatrend offers unique benefits for haemodynamic balance in hypertension, heart failure
and ischaemic heart disease. Dilatrend also has anti-oxidant and anti-proliferative properties that
further differentiate it from other beta blocking agents.
About
Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading
innovation-driven healthcare groups. Its core businesses are pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche
is number one in the global diagnostics market and the leading supplier of pharmaceuticals for cancer
and a leader in virology and transplantation. As a supplier of products and services for the prevention,
diagnosis and treatment of disease, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s
health and quality of life. Roche employs roughly 62,000 people in 150 countries. The Group has alliances
and research and development agreements with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests
in Genentech and Chugai.
All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are legally protected.
About COMET
COMET was
a double-blind, randomised parallel group study designed to compare the effects of Dilatrend with those
of metoprolol on the risk of death and hospitalisations in patients with CHF2.
The trial enrolled 3029 patients with mild to moderate to severe (NYHA class II-IV) CHF from 15 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.) All patients were followed up for 46 – 74 months adding up to a total database of more than 14,000 patient years, making COMET the longest and largest beta blocker study ever conducted in CHF.
COMET was jointly sponsored by F. Hoffmann-La Roche and GlaxoSmithKline. Dilatrend is marketed worldwide by Roche under the additional trade names Cardiol, Coreg, Coropres, Dilbloc, Dimitone, Eucardic and Kredex with the exception of North America where it is marketed by GlaxoSmithKline under the trade name of Coreg and Japan where it is marketed by Daiichi under the trade name of Artist.
References
1
Poole-Wilson P, et al. Carvedilol or Metoprolol European Trial Results. Presented on the 23 June 2003
at the Heart Failure Congress, Strasbourg; Hotline session.
2 Poole-Wilson, P et al.
Rationale and design of the carvedilol or metoprolol European trial in patients with chronic heart failure:
COMET. European Journal of Heart Failure 4 (2002) 321-329.