According to a recent research, Avapro, sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Sanofi-Aventis, was as good as other medicines used in treating a type of heart failure that primarily affects women and the elderly.

It was thought that the medicine would reduce the rate of deaths and severe heart problems better than other drugs available in the market.

The research was conducted with positive results for the drug, at the University of Texas School of Public Health. The researchers said, "We were particularly disappointed because we still have large numbers of patients that still don't have a good treatment," stated Barry M. Massie, M. D., co-principal investigator of the study, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and chief of the cardiology division at the San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center.

The participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups of treatment. Some were given irbesartan, an Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker (ARB) and others were administered Avapro. The researchers followed the participants for a period of 4.5 years.

But the findings of the research were disappointing for the researchers as they could not detect any significant difference between the results of the two drugs.