Merck Biopharma Korea said that its coronary heart disease drug Concor (bisoprolol fumarate) proved safe and efficient decreasing the number of cardiac events in Asian patients.

Results from the real world BISO-CAD trial conducted on 866 Asian patients with coronary heart disease at 42 institutions cross China, Korea, and Vietnam for nearly five years was recently published in the February edition of the Current Medical Research and Opinion, Merck said.

The phase 4 trial aimed to test the association between a decrease in resting heart rate (RHR) and the occurrence of composite cardiac clinical outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease who received bisoprolol treatment.

The study found that patients with lower mean RHR had fewer composite cardiac events. Patients with a RHR of 69 to 74 beats per minute (bpm) reported a notably higher number of cardiac events than patients who had a RHR of less than 65 bpm.

The findings also indicated a significant association between those who got admitted to a hospital for unstable angina or revascularization and composite cardiac outcome occurrence.

“This is an important research finding that shows continual adjustment of average beat pulse through Concor injections in Asian patients with coronary artery disease,” said general manager of Merck Biopharma Korea, Ulaff Muenster.

The study also proved that Concor had a significantly small number of adverse effects. Out of the 206 side effects reported in the study, only 12 were reported to be related to be Concor. None were fatal or severe adverse events (SAEs), the company said.

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