CLEVELAND: Doctors at America’s top heart hospital, Cleveland Clinic, have voted unanimously to curtail or even ban the clinic’s use of Johnson & Johnson drug Natrecor. Widely used as a treatment for heart failure, Natrecor has been reported in two recent medical journal studies to increase kidney problems and death rates among patients.

A Johnson & Johnson spokesman said the company would not speculate on the outcome of the committee’s review.

“From our perspective, Natrecor is highly effective and has a positive risk-benefit ratio when used in patients with acutely decompensated heart failure, a life-threatening condition for which there are limited treatment options,” said Mark Wolfe.

Natrecor is approved to treat severe cases of acute heart failure and also has been widely used in outpatient clinics where patients arrive for regular infusions. As a result, as many as 600,000 patients have been treated with the drug since its 2001 approval.