November 2004 – Commentary on BiDil, the CHF medication for blacks:

Now, let’s look at BiDil a little closer. This is merely a combination of two cheap generic medications – hydralazine and isosorbide dinitrate. In fact, you can simply prescribe these medications separately at BiDil’s dosages for only pennies. This combination has been tested before in the pre ace-inhibitor era and was the standard of care for CHF before the emergence of ace-inhibitors. However, the data showed that blacks had a lesser response to ace-inhibitors, and that the older standard of hydralazine and nitrates had a more pronounced effects in blacks. The drug company, NitroMed, shrewdly pounced on this fact, leading to the results of today’s study.