Ticagrelor No Better Than Clopidogrel In Peripheral Artery Disease

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…

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AstraZeneca Drug ‘Approaching The Point Of Diminishing Returns’

After a heart attack (myocardial infarction or MI) patients remain at high risk for recurrent events. The precise role of blood thinning with dual antiplatelet therapy to lower this risk has been the subject of considerable disagreement.  Now a new study offers fresh evidence that one important strategy, prolonged dual antiplatelet therapy, can lower risk…

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AstraZeneca Drug Improves Outcomes After Heart Attacks

For the first time a very large trial has shown that dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) improves cardiovascular outcomes when given to patients one to three years after a heart attack. Because it has been shown previously to reduce the high risk of recurrent events for up to a year following a heart attack, DAPT is considered to be…

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US Department Of Justice Ends Investigation Of AstraZenca Trial

AstraZeneca announced today that the US Department of Justice has ended its investigation into alleged misconduct associated with the pivotal PLATO trial. The company said it had fully cooperated with the investigation, which began in October of 2013. … Click here to read the full post on Forbes.  …

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UK Politician Urges More Use Of Ticagrelor To Preserve AstraZeneca Jobs In UK

Use it or lose it. A UK politician is urging the National Health Service (NHS) to increase use of the antiplatelet drug ticagrelor (trade name Brilinta in the US, Brilique and Possia in the EU) in order to prevent the loss of British jobs. Like nearly all the major pharmaceutical companies, AstraZeneca has been fighting…

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Ticagrelor Joins Clopidogrel And Prasugrel In Updated NSTEMI Guidelines

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,…

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FDA Approves Generic Clopidogrels As Plavix Loses Patent Protection

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…

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The Medicines Company Collaborates with AstraZeneca To Sell Brilinta (ticagrelor)

The Medicines Company will collaborate with AstraZeneca to help sell Brilinta (ticagrelor), AstraZeneca’s struggling oral antiplatelet drug. The collaboration is the first stage of  “a global collaboration for acute ischemic heart disease compound” announced by the two companies today. AstraZeneca will pay $15 million per year for The Medicines Company’s Brilinta-related sales activities, scheduled to begin in May….

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