Back in 2010 totalhealth reported on a new heart drug known as Procoralan®, a brand of ivabradine. We reported that a study published by the Systolic Heart failure treatment with the If inhibitor ivabradine Trial (SHIfT) study found that the heart drug resulted in a 26% lower rate of hospitalisation and death due to heart failure.
The drug has once again been in the news following a larger 
Europe-wide trial of over 6500 people suffering from cardiovascular disease (CVD). The initial study found that ivabradine reduced the risk of death from heart failure by 26%, a figure which was matched in the reduced numbers of hospital admissions due to CVD. The latest news from SHIfT are that the drug can reduce the risk of heart failure by 39% and reduce the risk of death from all forms of cardiovascular disease by 17%. The numbers of patients requiring hospitalisation has now been reduced by an incredible 30% through taking the heart drug.
Since we previously published news on the SHIfT study, Procoralan® has been available, at £10 a week, for private patients on prescription in the UK but has not, as yet, been approved for widespread use on the NHS. Now that the drug, developed at the Royal Brompton Hospital, London, has been approved by European regulators it is hoped that NHS regulators will follow suit.
