NAACP and Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical company Nitromed are forming a three-year partnership to help address health care disparities, particularly with regard to cardiovascular disease, the Miami Herald reports. Nitromed is the maker of BiDil, a heart failure medication marketed specifically for black patients. The $1.5 million "health justice" campaign will promote better health habits and access to medical care for black people. The campaign will include grassroots efforts from NAACP's state and local chapters. Lucille Norville Perez, NAACP's national health director, said, "Why is it that black people's health care status is so inferior to their white counterparts? We are making people of color knowledgeable that disparities exist" (Robinson, Miami Herald, 1/2).

More Targeted Drugs Likely
In related news, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Monday examined three drugs that are following the precedent of BiDil by being tested for use on specific populations of patients, "draw[ing] fire from critics who say a patient's race should not be a factor in medical treatment and who note that there are more variations among people within one race than among the races." BiDil was shown in a 2004 study to reduce deaths among black patients with congestive heart failure by 43% and lower hospital admissions by 39%, while it had no effect on white patients. It is not known why black and white patients reacted differently to the drug. Virgil Norris, a Florida physician, said, "Whatever it is in the genetic makeup, it seems to have better results in African-Americans. I don't see anything wrong with it. What you want is a good outcome." A trial is ongoing to test Nebivolol, a beta blocker, specifically on black patients, and another trial is testing the cholesterol drug Crestor on black patients. In addition, the lung cancer drug Iressa is being tested on Asians after a study suggested that was the only group to benefit from it (LaMendola, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 1/3).