Popular Blood Pressure Meds Not Linked to Cancer
Jun-04-2011

A class of drugs widely used to treat high blood pressure doesn't boost the risk of cancer, as a recent analysis suggested, U.S. health authorities announced Thursday.
The drugs are known as angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) and include medicines such as telmisartan (Micardis), losartan (Cozaar), valsartan (Diovan) and candesartan (Atacand).
The determination comes from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which just concluded a safety review of the drugs.
"It is comforting to have this data to support what we clinically felt was true," said Dr. Joseph Diamond, director of nuclear cardiology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, NY.
FDA undertook the review after a meta-analysis appearing in July 2010 in The Lancet found a "modestly increased risk" -- about 10 percent -- of cancer diagnoses among people taking ARBs, and a smaller increased risk of death from cancer.
Until that report, there had been very little concern about the safety of the drugs.
"It's a drug that's been out for a very long time so we have a lot of clinical experience with it," Diamond said.
In fact, he added, many physicians were skeptical when the Lancet findings were first announced. "That study really was not designed to look for cancer," he said.

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