New Anti-Clotting Pill Works Well in Trials

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All three studies were funded by Bayer, which plans to market the drug rivaroxaban as Xarelto. It already has competition from another anti-clotting drug known as dabigatran, which the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim has permission to market in Europe and has approval to start marketing in Canada later this month, Geerts said. The brand name of that pill is Pradaxa.

The potential bigger market for both new anti-clotting drugs is for out-of-hospital use. An estimated 2 million Americans now take -- or are supposed to take -- Coumadin because of atrial fibrillation, the abnormal heartbeat that can cause formation of life-threatening blood clots, said Dr. Richard C. Becker, a professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center, who co-wrote an accompanying editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine. Bayer is moving toward marketing rivaroxaban for those people, he said.

"These trials are part of a very large program," he said. "There are four large trials in orthopedic surgery and also large programs in atrial fibrillation. There are also programs for patients with acute coronary syndrome. In all, there will be close to 50,000 patients in randomized clinical trials."

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Both new anti-clotting pills will be an improvement for many people now taking Coumadin, Geerts said. Because of the frequent testing required for Coumadin, many people who are told to take the medication don't follow instructions, he said. "This will likely translate to a larger proportion of people who should be on prophylaxis actually getting it," he said.

But the fact that frequent tests aren't required for the new anti-clotting agents is a challenge to physicians, Geerts said. Lab tests are proof-positive that someone is taking their medicine, he said. "As physicians, we have to think of new strategies to make sure people are compliant," he added.

More information

Learn more about anticoagulant drugs from the American Heart Association.

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