Blast from the past

Biogen Idec Inc. announced plans to dust off its Adentri program and move into Phase III testing next year with the adenosine A1 receptor antagonist. The company hopes that Adentri may avoid issues with seizures that have been associated with KW-3902, an adenosine A1 receptor antagonist in Phase III testing that is being acquired by Merck & Co. Inc.

According to Barry Ticho, senior director of medical research at BIIB (Cambridge, Mass.), physicians often consider heart failure patients with renal insufficiency some of the most difficult to treat because the escalating doses of diuretics used to treat their heart problems can lead to further renal impairment...