Newer Anti-Clotting Medication Found to Be More Effective

August 30, 2009

(PhysOrg.com) -- A large head-to-head study of two anti-clotting medications for heart patients has found that the investigational compound ticagrelor (Brilinta) was more effective at reducing cardiovascular death than the current standard of care, clopidogrel (Plavix), according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center.

The findings were released today at the European Society of Cardiology Congress and simultaneously published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Deaths, heart attacks and strokes occurred in significantly fewer patients taking ticagrelor compared to clopidogrel (9.8 percent versus 11.7 percent, P<0.001).

Ticagrelor more effectively reduced total death rates (4.5 percent versus 5.9 percent, P<0.001) but there was no significant difference between the medications in the amount of life-threatening bleeding.

"As a cardiology community, we are constantly seeking rigorously studied options to offer our patients who are facing an increased risk of serious, and potentially deadly, complications," said Robert A. Harrington, MD, director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute and the study's senior author.

"Clopidogrel is a well-established and effective therapy, so this study is an important step forward because it enables the potential for a thorough, evidence-based discussion of risks and benefits."

The Phase III study, called PLATO (Platelet Inhibition and Patient Outcomes), included more than 18,000 patients from 862 sites in 43 countries.

Patients in the trial had been hospitalized for a range of acute coronary syndromes, conditions triggered by insufficient blood supply to the heart, who were given one of the medications to help prevent the formation of blood clots. Patients were followed for one year.

Provided by Duke University