Heartburn drugs like Nexium, Prilosec and other so-called proton-pump inhibitors interfere with the heart-protecting function of Plavix, according to a study presented at last week’s annual meeting of the American Heart Association.

Among its many benefits, Plavix reduces the risk of future heart attacks in patients that have already sustained one. It also reduces the risk of life-threatening blood clots in patients that have undergone coronary stenting or balloon angioplasty.

But in its retrospective, claims-based study of nearly 17,000 people who received Plavix following stent placement or angioplasty, pharmacy-benefits giant Medco Health Solutions reported that the subset also taking heartburn drugs had a 50% higher risk of heart attacks and other cardiac events.

It’s a vexing problem for physicians because heartburn, stomach ulcers and gastritis are common side effects of Plavix, and nearly half of all Plavix users take Nexium, Prilosec or another proton-pump inhibitor to minimize these side effects.

And it’s a high-stakes problem for the pharmaceutical companies that market these drugs. Plavix, which is co-marketed by Bristol-Meyers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis, topped $4 billion in sales last year. Astra-Zeneca’s Nexium was the 4th largest selling drug in the US last year, with sales of $5.5 billion. The percentage of Nexium users also taking Plavix is unknown.

A separate study presented at the AHA meetings added complexity to the matter because it seemed to show that proton-pump inhibitors increased cardiac risk all by themselves.

Larry Lesko, the FDA’s director of clinical pharmacology told the Wall Street Journal that his department will begin investigating the matter shortly.  Meanwhile, people who take Plavix and heartburn drugs should consult their physicians.

The Cleveland Clinic is test driving HealthVault, Microsoft’s Web-based personal health record.

Officials representing the prestigious health care provider indicated that the pilot began November 3. It’s the first one to track multiple diseases using multiple home-based medical devices.

The pilot will enroll 400 patient volunteers that have various combinations of diabetes, hypertension and heart failure. The multitasking volunteers will utilize HealthVault-enabled heart rate and blood pressure monitors, glucometers, weight scales and maybe even their kitchen sinks to monitor daily fluctuations in their health status (no word yet on which kitchen sinks are HealthVault-enabled, by the way).

Using their computers, volunteers will upload all that data into their HealthVault record and share it in secure fashion with their physicians at the Clinic.

The Cleveland Clinic already offers patients a home-grown personal health record known as MyChart. It claims that 150,000 patients use MyChart. Comparisons of the two systems are not available, nor were statements regarding the marginal value of HealthVault in MyChart users, the two systems’ interoperability, pilot costs etc.

It also remained unclear how the pilot would be evaluated and by whom. Financial terms and strategic objectives of the Microsoft-Cleveland Clinic hook-up were not disclosed.

“These kinds of innovative solutions have the potential to help physicians and patients save time, improve accuracy of health information and communicate more effectively,” said Christopher Hebert, MD, of the Clinic’s Nephrology and Hypertension Department.

“We expect to demonstrate that innovative, cost-effective technology solutions can empower patients to partner more effectively with their physicians and better manage their chronic conditions from where they live and play – in the home,” said Peter Neupert, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Health Solutions Group.

In 1983, Ronald Reagan threatened to build a space-based laser defense system that could obliterate Soviet nuclear missiles before they left their own airspace.  Reagan called it the Strategic Defense Initiative, but Ed Kennedy derided it as a “reckless Star Wars scheme,” knowing full well the technology wasn’t there.

Kennedy was right and Star Wars never got built, but Reagan’s bluster may have nevertheless accelerated the implosion of the Soviet regime by forcing it to account for the billions of rubles it would take to maintain technology parity with the US at a time when its economy was going down the toilet.

Now, 25 years after Reagan’s Star Wars political checkmate, the US military appears to be back in the ray gun business. And this time, the early prototypes actually work.

At an undisclosed location probably in Iraq, an undisclosed branch of the military, probably the US Army has deployed Zeus, a “directed energy weapon” to destroy unexploded ordinance like roadside bombs from a safe distance.

Until now, the military completed this unsavory task with rocket propelled grenades, but RPGs are expensive and they have an annoying tendency to not go where they’re supposed to. Reportedly the laser goes where it’s aimed, and it works from 400 yards out so soldiers don’t have to expose themselves to sniper fire during the disarmament process.

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