The study, SURVIVE, compared Simdax, also known as levosimendan, with an older treatment called dobutamine.

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Some doctors feel that dobutamine, the drug to which Simdax was compared, might have ill effects.

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Often, doctors turn to older medicines like dobutamine and milrinone to try and improve symptoms.

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He says that he believes well-informed patients would prefer doctors look to identify an alternative to Simdax, dobutamine, or Natrecor.

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This may have happened with infusion clinics for heart failure drugs like dobutamine and Natrecor, where patients enjoyed the long infusion.

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Existing drugs such as Lasix, a water-draining diuretic, and new entries Natrecor and dobutamine haven't been tested in major trials or are suspected of serious side effects.

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The goal of the trial was to show that Simdax reduced mortality by 25% compared with dobutamine, which some doctors believe may actually have a negative effect on how long patients live, at the end of six months.

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Simdax, which is given in the hospital when patients are extremely sick, never reduced mortality by a large enough margin compared with dobutamine to be sure the results weren't due to chance, but there was a consistent trend toward a benefit.

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