[rn undisclosed name]

Have you been giving Ranexa?

I was talking with some docs about it. Actually I like to tease one of the heart docs that he always prescribes it.

So, I was discussing this medication with the cardiologists the other day and they have had patients report to them that even though they are taking it for chest pain they are reporting that their hemoglobin a1c levels are dropping by 1 full point (so basically going from 7.6 to 6.6) and in some cases if they happen to be on a regimen of 2 oral anti-diabetic medications they are actually able to stop one of the pills or decrease the doseage they are on. At the time we were discussing this there was a primary doc around who commented that his patients loved the medication because they were not having anymore angina but the cost of the medication is close to $300/month.

I have been trying to research and find info out on the Ranexa website about this effect on glucose levels and there is no informatin. The prescribing info says there is no effect on DM. I don't know if it is just so new that there is nothing there yet or if they are not aware of this drop in the hgb a1c level. I just thought it was very interesting.

[fishchick72]

That's very interesting. I just saw this med for the first time ever yesterday, one of the docs had prescribed it & none of us nurses knew what it was so I looked it up on my PDA.

[rn-jane]

We've been using ranexa for the last year and honestly I never heard of any contraindications with ranexa for diabetics or causing low blood counts. Here is information i found, sorry if you have this
Can Ranexa be used in patients with chronic angina who also have diabetes or heart failure?
There are no significant differences between patients with diabetes or heart failure and patients without diabetes or heart failure in terms of Ranexa pharmacokinetics, hemodynamic effects, or electrocardiographic effects. No dosage adjustment is required in patients with diabetes or heart failure.
info. There is mention of diabetes on the information but no change in their glucose levels.

http://www.ranexa.com/home.html