Consumer Best Buy Drugs: Updated Analysis of Medications (including Generics) Used to Treat Hight Blood Pressure

[Guest guest]

Dear

Colleagues,

As a

follow-up to previous postings to this e-group, please find below an

announcement from one of NCFH’s newest partners, Consumer Reports Best

Buy Drugs (CRBBD) regarding their updated analysis of

medications used to treat high blood pressure. Following the announcement

you will find information regarding the Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs Project

and the expertise that they bring to the table in order to offer these

recommendations which are free of RX company bias.

I hope you

will pass this information along to clinical and programmatic staff.

As always,

your feedback on this information is greatly appreciated. Elena Chavez, copied

above, is our CRBBD

contact should you choose to contact her

directly. Bobbi Ryder

Keep

Your Patients’ High Blood Pressure Well-Controlled With Low-Cost Generics

Consumer

Reports Best Buy Drugs

has just published our most recent

updated analysis of drugs to treat high blood pressure, evaluating three

classes of medications: Beta-Blockers,

Calcium-Channel

Blockers and ACE

Inhibitors. We’ve also updated our patient

education resources related to high blood pressure. The Best

Buys selected for each drug class – besides being the safest and most effective

drugs – can also save your patients hundreds or even thousands of dollars a

year compared to more expensive brand-name drugs.

High blood

pressure is a leading cause of death, and often called a " silent

killer " since its symptoms can go undetected until end-organ damage has

already occurred. Because of this, it is one of the most significantly

under-diagnosed and under-treated medical conditions in the U.S. If left

uncontrolled, it can increase the risk of heart attack, heart failure, stroke,

dementia, vision loss, and kidney failure.

Ace Inhibitors

We have selected the following five

ACE Inhibitors as Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs based on the evidence

for their effectiveness, dosing convenience and cost in treating the following

conditions:

For high blood pressure: benazepril, enalapril, and lisinopril

For heart failure: enalapril, captopril

After a heart attack: lisinopril

For diabetics: ramipril

For people with kidney disease:

benazepril, ramipril

Beta-Blockers

Taking

effectiveness, safety and cost into account, we have selected the following

beta-blockers, at all appropriate doses, as Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs:

·

For

high blood pressure

– atenolol, metoprolol tartrate, nadolol, and propranolol.

·

For

angina – atenolol,

metoprolol tartrate, nadolol, and propranolol.

·

After

a heart attack – atenolol,

metoprolol tartrate, and propranolol

·

For

mild heart failure

– bisoprolol, carvedilol, metoprolol succinate

·

For

severe heart failure – carvedilol

Calcium-Channel

Blockers

We have

chosen the following four calcium-channel blockers as Consumer Reports Best

Buy Drugs based on the evidence of their effectiveness, dosing convenience

and their cost in treating the following conditions:

·

For

high blood pressure –

Diltiazem SR and Diltiazem CR, Felodipine SR, Nifedipine

SR, Verapamil SR

·

For

angina – Nifedipine

SR

·

For

heart rhythm abnormalities – Diltiazem

SR and Diltiazem

CR, Verapamil SR

High blood

pressure can occur at any age but is far more common in people age 35 and over.

It is particularly prevalent in African-Americans, those with a family history

of high blood pressure, people who are overweight or obese, people with

diabetes, and heavy drinkers. Women taking birth control pills are also

at high risk, as are people who take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (such

as ibuprofen, naproxen, and Celebrex) over long periods.

Read the

rest of the Consumer

Reports Best Buy Drugs reports on treating high blood pressure, for more on

specific symptoms, diagnosis, medication dosages and formulations, drug side

effect and safety information. Access our

patient education materials to help begin a discussion between you

and your patients about the treatment that is best for them.

For

additional information on more than 200 prescription drugs, alternatives to

high-priced drugs and Best Buy selections for the most common, chronic medical

conditions, visit www.ConsumerReportsHealth.org/BestBuyDrugs.

About

Best Buy Drugs

The mission

of the Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs project is to provide consumers and

their healthcare providers with information to help guide prescription drug

choices–based on effectiveness, a drug's track record, safety and

price. The project's current main external sponsor is the state Attorney

General Consumer and Prescriber Education Grant Program

which is funded by the multi-state settlement of consumer fraud claims regarding

the marketing of the prescription drug Neurontin.

The project aims to improve access

to needed medicines for tens of millions of Americans–because they lack

insurance coverage for prescription drugs, because the prices of many medicines

today are so high, and because many consumers and healthcare providers may not

be aware of proven and affordable alternatives.

Our analysis of prescription drugs

is based primarily on an independent and unbiased review of the scientific evidence

on the effectiveness and safety of drugs in specific classes, such as drugs to

treat high blood pressure, heartburn, high cholesterol, depression, or migraine

headaches. They aim to enhance communication between consumers and health

care professionals.

Our reports are based on systematic

reviews of the scientific research. These reviews are conducted under the

auspices of the Drug Effectiveness Review Project, a unique initiative funded

by 13 states. The actual reviews are conducted by teams of researchers at

several " Evidence Based Practice Centers " (EPCs), which are selected

to perform this kind of work by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and

Quality (AHRQ). The EPC at the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU)

coordinates the DERP Project.

If you have not heard of DERP, we

refer you to their excellent Web site: http://www.ohsu.edu/drugeffectiveness/description/index.htm.

This site contains the detailed drug reviews on which our reports are based.

The DERP reports undergo extensive

peer review before final publication. Our drug class reports, which render the

lengthy DERP analyses into language and a context that consumers can

understand, undergo a separate peer review process. Indeed, Best Buy Drug

reports are produced independently of DERP although, under contract, one of the

leading DERP researchers at OHSU helps us " translate " the DERP

reports into a consumer-friendly form. Consumer Reports editors then add

cost information and make the “Best Buy” selections based on a combination of

safety, effectiveness, convenience and cost.

To learn more about Consumer Reports

Best Buy Drugs, please visit www.ConsumerReportsBestBuyDrugs.org

Bobbi

Ryder

President

& CEO

National

Center for Farmworker Health, Inc.

1770

FM 967

Buda,

TX

(512)

312-5453 direct line

(512)

312-5451 Mendoza , Assistant

(512)

312-2600

www.ncfh.org