Ibesartan and Health Cost Savings

According Edmund J. Lewis, MD, director of nephrology at Rush?Presbyterian?St Luke?s Medical Center in Chicago, IL, ?If patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease were treated with the angiotensin II receptor blocker irbesartan, we could prevent, in the US alone, about 35,000 cases of end-stage kidney disease at a cost savings of up to $2.3 billion over 3 years.? Dr. Lewis is the lead investigator of the international Irbesartan Diabetic Nephropathy Trial.

By slowing the progression of late-stage kidney disease, irbesartan can put off the need for dialysis or kidney transplant by a year or longer, resulting in a savings of $50,000 per patient per year. The study was funded by an educational grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Synthelabo.