Cardiome: Positive Data From Comparing Vernakalant Vs Propafenone And Flecainide

(RTTNews) - Cardiome Pharma Corp. (CRME, COM.TO), Monday announced positive data from an open label study in patients with atrial fibrillation that compared treatment with vernakalant intravenous (IV) to oral propafenone and flecainide. Patients treated with vernakalant achieved conversion to normal sinus rhythm in a median time of 12 minutes compared to 151 minutes for the propafenone group and 162 minutes for the flecainide group, the company said.

"The faster conversion rate with intravenous vernakalant experienced at this center translated to shorter length of stay in the emergency room compared to the other two therapies and we believe these results can be replicated across other centers worldwide in similar patient groups." said William Hunter, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Cardiome Pharma Corp.