Is Angiotensin II safe?
Clot and other events tracked in ATHOS-3
In ATHOS-3, 12.9% of patients on angiotensin II had blood clot events, including deep vein thrombosis. On placebo, 5.1% did. So the FDA label advises clot prevention for veins during treatment. The drug group also had more low platelet counts, fast heart rate, delirium, acidosis, fungal infection and poor blood flow to the limbs. 45
The trial enrolled only patients in refractory shock who were monitored in intensive care. So nothing is known about the drug in other settings. It is not used outside hospitals. 4
Blood clots were the main warning sign. Clot events were about twice as common as with placebo in the approval trial. So doctors are advised to prevent clots during treatment. Poor blood flow to the limbs and delirium were also reported. 45
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Citations
- StatPearls: Physiology, renin angiotensin system ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- La Jolla Pharmaceutical: Giapreza product site giapreza.com
- Basso 2001, Hypertension: history of the discovery of the renin-angiotensin system pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- FDA: Giapreza (angiotensin II) prescribing information, 2017 accessdata.fda.gov
- Khanna 2017, NEJM: angiotensin II for the treatment of vasodilatory shock (ATHOS-3) doi.org
Reference information only, not medical advice. Drawn from the Angiotensin II article, fact-checked against the cited sources. No dosing anywhere on this site.