AstraZeneca announces top-line results from EUCLID trial ahead of the AHA. Ticagrelor is no better than clopidogrel in patients who have peripheral artery disease, a large new study will show. On Tuesday morning AstraZeneca announced the top line results of the EUCLID (Examining Use of Ticagrelor in PAD) trial. The full results will be presented…
Ticagrelor No Better Than Clopidogrel In Peripheral Artery Disease
October 4, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Prescription Delay Following Stent Implantation Is a Common and Deadly Problem
May 28, 2014 by Leave a Comment
After receiving a stent, many patients delay or fail to fill their prescription for clopidogrel or another antiplatelet agent. Now, a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association offers evidence that this problem is widespread and often leads to serious consequences. Researchers analyzed data from all stent implantations performed in British Columbia from 2004 through…
FDA Advisory Panel Recommends Against Approval Of Cangrelor
February 12, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee today recommended against the approval of cangrelor, the investigational new antiplatelet drug from the Medicines Company. In a 7-2 vote the panel first rejected an indication for the reduction of thrombotic cardiovascular events including stent thrombosis in patients undergoing PCI. The panel also voted unanimously to reject a second indication… … Click…
Some Patients With Minor Stroke Or TIA May Benefit From Early Clopidogrel And Aspirin
June 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Some people with minor ischemic stroke or transit ischemic attack (TIA) may benefit from dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel, according to a large new study from China published in the New England Journal of Medicine. In the immediate period following a TIA or minor stroke people are at high risk for having a major stroke. Aspirin…
Cangrelor During PCI May Reduce Ischemic Events
March 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In the Cangrelor versus Standard Therapy to Achieve Optimal Management of Platelet Inhibition (CHAMPION PHOENIX) trial, the intravenous platelet inhibitor cangrelor was tested for its effect on ischemic events associated with PCI. Cangrelor is a potent, fast-acting and reversible agent. Results of the trial were presented at the ACC in San Francisco and published simultaneously in…
Early Results: Antiplatelet Drug Cangrelor Appears Effective For PCI
January 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The experimental antiplatelet drug cangrelor was superior to traditional clopidogrel in reducing ischemic events at 48 hours in PCI patients, according to the Medicines Company, which is developing the drug. The company today announced positive results from the phase 3 CHAMPION PHOENIX trial, a randomized, double-blind study comparing intravenous cangrelor to oral clopidogrel in PCI patients. The…
Danish Survey Finds Clopidogrel Less Effective In Diabetics
September 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment
A large nationwide survey of MI survivors in Denmark provides new information about the efficacy of antiplatelet therapy with clopdiogrel in patients with diabetes. In a paper published in JAMA, Charlotte Andersson reports on 58,851 MI patients, 12% of whom had diabetes and 60% of whom received clopidogrel. As expected, diabetics had a worse outcome than nondiabetics: the…
TRILOGY At ESC: No Advantage For Prasugrel Over Clopidogrel In Medical ACS Patients
August 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The newer antiplatelet agent prasugrel was no better than the old standby clopidogrel for treating patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) who are not undergoing revascularization. The results of the TRILOGY ACS (Targeted Platelet Inhibition to Clarify the Optimal Strategy to Medically Manage Acute Coronary Syndromes) trial were presented by Matt Roe at the European Society of…
Ticagrelor Joins Clopidogrel And Prasugrel In Updated NSTEMI Guidelines
July 16, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Ticagrelor (Brilinta, AstraZeneca) gains equal standing with prasugrel (Effient, Lilly) and clopdiogrel in the newly released focused update of the ACCF/AHA guidelines for unstable angina and non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). The change had been widely anticipated since last year’s FDA approval of ticagrelor. “We have put it on equal footing with two other antiplatelet medications,…
FDA Approves Generic Clopidogrels As Plavix Loses Patent Protection
May 17, 2012 by 1 Comment
For the second time in the past six months, a cardiology mainstay drug has lost patent protection and gone generic. Today the FDA announced that it had approved several generic versions of clopidogrel (Plavix), the antiplatelet drug that for many years was the second best-selling drug in the world. Last November the best-selling drug of all time, Lipitor…
Failure of Another Trial Testing Guided Antiplatelet Therapy Prompts Debate
April 6, 2012 by 4 Comments
Updated, Saturday, April 7 Yet another trial has failed to prove the hypothesis that guided antiplatelet therapy with platelet function testing or genetic testing improves outcomes. Although there has been no public announcement so far, the TARGET-PCI (Thrombocyte Activity Reassessment and GEnoTyping for PCI) was suspended last October, according to the TARGET-PCI page on ClinicalTrials.Gov….
Proof-of-Concept for Bedside Rapid Genotyping Test of CYP2C19
March 28, 2012 by 1 Comment
A new point-of-care test can rapidly identify people with a common genetic variant associated with impaired clopidogrel function. The authors claim that this is the first study to demonstrate the feasibility of delivering a genetic test at bedside. In an article published online in the Lancet, Jason Roberts and colleagues report on a new point-of-care test that can…
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