Doctors raise concern about heart drug. The heart drug Nesiritide (Natrecor) is an FDA-approved drug for the treatment of decompensated heart failure, the most common reason for hospitalization for those over 65 years of age. Decompensated heart failure results in nearly one million hospitalizations annually, Nesiritide is used for nearly 10% of heart failure-related hospitalizations.
Now doctors at North Shore University Hospital in New York and the University of Michigan are concerned that nesiritide worsens kidney function when used as a treatment of acutely decompensated heart failure and are concerned about the safety of the drug, because previous studies have shown that patients whose kidney function worsens during treatment for decompensated heart failure are at higher risk of dying in the subsequent weeks and months. Nesiritide is produced by Scios Inc., a unit of Johnson and Johnson.