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Pamela Sankar and Jonathan Kahn, BiDil: Race Medicine Or Race Marketing?, Health Affairs Web Exclusive, October 11, 2005 [Abstract] [PDF] [HTML Version] [Reprints & Permissions]

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BiDil and Other Racial Ironies

David W. Moskowitz MD FACP   ( 24 October 2005 )

BiDil and Other Racial Ironies 24 October 2005
David W. Moskowitz MD FACP, CEO GenoMed Inc. Send comment to journal: Re: BiDil and Other Racial Ironies dwmoskowitz{at}genomed.com David W. Moskowitz MD FACP	It's amazing what an advertising budget will do. Over three years ago, we published an article in a peer-reviewed medical journal showing that it was possible to reverse kidney failure due to diabetes or hypertension in white and black men (1) using higher-than-conventional doses of a particular angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor. Renal failure affects blacks five times more than whites and is clearly a "race" issue. Ironically, it's common practice in medicine not to use ACE inhibitors in blacks ever since John Laragh's work in the 1970s showed that blacks have "low renin" hypertension, and their blood pressure doesn't respond as well to ACE inhibitors. We showed that renal failure in blacks actually responded better than in whites to high doses of an ACE inhibitor. Instead of having been denied ACE inhibitors for the past 25 years, blacks should be the first to be treated with ACE inhibitors. Not a single newspaper picked up on our finding. As a result, we have a cure for 90% of kidney failure, but since it involves a drug that is now generic and my company lacks an advertising budget, nobody knows about it. Why no professional kidney organization has helped us publicize the cure is another shameful story in American health care. By the way, our treatment approach should be much more effective than BiDil at delaying the progression of congestive heart failure, which is due primarily to angiotensin II-mediated apoptosis (2). References 1. Moskowitz DW. From pharmacogenomics to improved patient outcomes: angiotensin I-converting enzyme as an example. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2002;4(4):519-32. 2. Moskowitz DW. Is angiotensin I-converting enzyme a "master" disease gene? Diabetes Technol Ther. 2002;4(5):683-711; Moskowitz DW. Is "somatic" angiotensin I-converting enzyme a mechanosensor? Diabetes Technol Ther. 2002;4(6):841-58; Moskowitz DW. Pathophysiologic implications of angiotensin I-converting enzyme as a mechanosensor: diabetes. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2003;5(2):189-99; and Moskowitz DW, Johnson FE. The central role of angiotensin I-converting enzyme in vertebrate pathophysiology. Curr Top Med Chem. 2004;4(13):1433-54.