"The overall assessment is that dronedarone has only modest efficacy and no clear-cut safety advantage," Kaul said in an interview. Amiodarone, in contrast, has "a huge cost advantage." Multaq costs about $9 per day, and generic amiodarone costs pennies. "It's cheap, so why would you want to use an expensive, ineffective alternative?"
Multaq, known generically as dronedarone, is 50 percent less effective against atrial fibrillation than its rival amiodarone the team at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles reported.
"We believe that dronedarone should only be used as a second-line or third-line agent in individuals that are not able to tolerate amiodarone or other first-line agents recommended by the guidelines," Dr. Sanjay Kaul, who led the study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, said in a statement.
More here: http://www.theheart.org/article/1065123.do
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