Drug maker Novartis released highly anticipated results from its clinical trial, PARADIGM-HF, showing its new heart failure drug cut cardiovascular deaths by 20%. The results were announced at the European Society of Cardiology meeting on Saturday.

Novartis has been testing a drug called LCZ696 for chronic heart failure in hopes of replacing ACE inhibitors, one of the mainstays of heart failure treatment. In March, an ethics council that was monitoring the trial data simultaneously requested the company end the trial since it was clear that participants using LCZ696 lived longer without being hospitalized for heart failure compared to those using the standard-care ACE inhibitor, enalapril.

Anticipation over the drug’s results has been mounting since the recommended closure of the trial; results were so impressive that the treatment showed potential to become the next standard of care. The latest trial showed significantly more patients on LCZ696 were alive, and they had…

Most GPs I know pride themselves on being true generalists, and have gravitated towards this area of medicine because they enjoy the challenge and variety that comes with the territory. They also tend to value holistic, patient-centered care and the satisfaction that comes with long term doctor-patient relationships.  

Inevitalby, though, each GP has strengths and weaknesses when it comes to their clinical expertise. For me personally, I’m very confident with women’s health, pretty good with infants and neonates, comfortable with suturing and minor procedures, but much less assured when it comes to men’s reproductive health, elderly patients with complex mutli-comorbiditiy, and skin cancer checks, for example. 

I’m not overly concerned by this, and nor should my patients be. I feel that I’ve got enough of a grasp of the basics that I can at least make the first steps towards investigating and managing pretty much any presenting complaint, and am happy to do some…