Drug May Help Prevent Irregular Heartbeat

A calcium leak inside heart cells triggers a lethal type of irregular heartbeat and a drug that plugs the leak seems to prevent it, say scientists who hope the finding one day will help hundreds of thousands of people. So far the experimental drug has been studied only in mice, but the Columbia University researchers hope to begin human testing next year. Regardless of how that first attempt goes, the discovery is important because it provides a new target to treat irregular heartbeat, as well as the huge problem of congestive heart failure.