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NIH funds trial of chelation therapy for patients with diabetes, prior MI
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Mount Sinai Medical Center of Florida announced that it and Duke Clinical Research Institute have received an NIH grant of $37 million to fund a second study of IV chelation therapy in patients with prior MI.
The trial, TACT2, aims to determine whether IV chelation treatments plus oral vitamins prevent recurrent CV events such as MI, stroke and CV death in patients with diabetes aged 50 years or older, according to a press release issued by Mount Sinai.
In chelation therapy, a medication such as edetate disodium removes toxic metal pollutants from a patient, according to the release.
In the original TACT study of 1,708 patients with prior MI, chelation therapy was associated with a modest reduction in CV events, but the treatment effect was greater in patients with diabetes, so the researchers sought funding for further study in that population, according to the release.
“If TACT2 is positive, it will forever change the way we treat [patients with MI] and view toxic metals in the environment,” Gervasio A. Lamas, MD, chairman of medicine and chief of the Columbia University division of cardiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, Florida, said in the release.
Disclosure: Lamas reports no relevant financial disclosures.