| abstract |
A method of evaluating drug efficacy of experimental pharmaceutical agents or biological agents proposed for the treatment of arterial plaque burden is described herein. Arterial plaque from a first appendage is removed and analyzed for the content of one or more markers. One or more test pharmaceutical agent or biological agent alone or in combination are administered to the patient for a specified period of time equal to a period of time after which it is supposed that a marker level will have changed in response to the drug. Arterial plaque is then removed from a second appendage and analyzed for the same marker or markers as the first plaque tissue in order to determine whether the test pharmaceutical agent or biological agent was efficacious in altering the production of the marker in the patient. |