Close to 300 heart and stroke therapies under development

According to PhRMA, there are currently 277 medications either in clinical trials or under review by the FDA for treating heart disease and stroke, the two leading causes of death in the U.S. A new report released by the group said that 30 drugs are in development for heart failure, 31 for hypertension, 19 for myocardial infarction, and 19 for stroke. In addition, PhRMA said that many of the new therapies use cutting-edge technologies such as human stem cells that are used to restore cardiac function by forming new heart muscle and a vaccine that prevents the transfer of "good" cholesterol to "bad" cholesterol. The report can be found on-line at