Gilead's Sovaldi Tied to Slow Heartbeat in Hepatitis C Patients
- Report published as letter to New England Journal of Medicine
- Three affected patients were all taking multiple medicines
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Gilead Sciences Inc.’s blockbuster hepatitis C medicine Sovaldi may trigger an abnormally slow heartbeat and put patients at risk of passing out, according to French doctors who said treatments containing the drug should be used with caution.
The report, in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, detailed episodes of a slowing heart rate that developed within the first 10 days of Sovaldi therapy in three of 415 patients treated in 2014 at the Hopital Cochin’s hepatology and cardiology group in Paris. All three received pacemakers within a week to ensure their hearts maintained a healthy rhythm.