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Drug markers questioned

Nature (2008)Cite this article

A Correction to this article was published on 09 April 2008

A recent spate of worrying clinical-trial data has researchers questioning drugs approved on the basis of how they affect biomarkers rather than clinical endpoints. Heidi Ledford looks at surrogate markers.

Forty years ago, a debate raged among cardiologists over the nature of the link between high blood pressure and heart disease. Some believed high blood pressure was a causal factor in producing heart attacks and strokes. But others argued that the body raised blood pressure as a way of mitigating poor vascular health. The stakes were high: if increased blood pressure was a coping mechanism, then drugs that lowered it could be harmful.

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  1. Heidi Ledford
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Ledford, H. Drug markers questioned. Nature (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/452510a

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