The Nation : Medicare Refuses to Pay for Heart Drug

Medicare officials have decided not to pay the costs of treating heart attack patients with TPA, the pioneering blood-clot drug approved last year by the Food and Drug Administration. The decision reflects growing doubts among federal health officials and medical experts that the drug, which costs 10 times more than others used to treat heart attacks, is more likely to save lives than other drugs that dissolve blood clots. In the five months since it was approved for use, TPA, or tissue plasminogen activator, has become the fastest-selling new drug in history. The drug, made by Genentech Inc., has proved to be safe and effective in dissolving the clots that cause most heart attacks. TPA is a genetically engineered replica of a protein the body produces naturally. If administered soon enough after a heart attack, it melts the fatty clots that stop the flow of blood to the heart.