Category:
Drugs Online
Region:
Canada
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FOUNDATION RESEARCH: ED DRUG MAY HELP PREVENT HEART ATTACK, STROKE
Date: 8-Sep-2008
Author: Wilson LS, Elbatarny HS, Maurice DH
A study partially funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation shows that a popular drug to treat ED (erectile dysfunction) could hold the key to preventing heart attacks and strokes.
Viagra (Sildenafil) increases blood flow by affecting enzymes inside red blood cells called platelets. More importantly, research shows this drug also targets an enzyme which regulates the blood platelets' ability to accumulate and form a clot in an artery which is the cause of most ischemic strokes and some heart attacks. Viagra is already used as a treatment for pulmonary hypertension.
The lead researcher, Donald Maurice, a Career Investigator with the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario since 1996, believes that if Viagra can be altered to specifically target this enzyme, it may lead to drug therapies which are both effective and safe for preventing some heart attacks and stroke.
The research team hopes to use a drug like Viagra to inhibit the enzyme responsible for platelets sticking together without affecting other enzymes not involved in the clotting process.
The study, which is published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was jointly funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
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