Winnipeg drug discovery company Medicure Inc. will announce results today of a preliminary pilot clinical study on its secondary compound being used to treat high blood pressure in patients with diabetes.

Although the phase II clinical trial was only conducted on 15 patients, anticipation of the results prompted heavy trading yesterday, which closed down seven cents at $2.15 with more than 1.1 million shares trading.

Earlier this week Medicure announced that the first patients had been signed up for a major phase II clinical trial on its main compound, MC-1. The new trial will evaluate the potential of MC-1 in reducing damage resulting from coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedures where tissue damage may occur from the brief disruption of blood flow and oxygen deprivation.

Last year, the company received encouraging results from a phase II trial on MC-1 administered to heart patients who were undergoing angioplasty treatments.

Don Bain, a spokesman for Medicure, said the 900-patient trial will be structured with about 300 patients taking one dose, 300 taking a higher dose and 300 taking a placebo. The first patients were enrolled at the Montreal Heart Institute which, along with Duke Clinical Research Institute, will manage the trial. Patients will be enrolled at about 40 sites located throughout Canada and the United States and enrollment is expected to take up to 12 months.

Bain said the results that will be released today on the compound, called MC-4232, will provide data that Medicure will be able to use to go forward with additional clinical trials later this year.