A new study helps support a role for the new oral anticoagulant dabigatran (Pradaxa, Boehringer Ingelheim) in patients with venous thrombosis (VTE). The RE-COVER II trial, published online in Circulation, confirms the finding of the earlier and highly similar RE-COVER trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2009, that dabigatran is as safe and effective as warfarin for the treatment of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). Dabigatran is currently approved only for the treatment of stroke prevention in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation.
In RE-COVER II 2,589 patients with acute VTE were randomized to dabigatran or warfarin following standard heparin treatment for 5 to 11 days. At 6 months the rate of recurrent VTE and related deaths was 2.3% in the dabigatran group versus 2.2% in the warfarin group (HR 1.08, CI 0.64 – 1.80; p<0.001 for noninferiority). There were no significant differences in the incidence of deaths, adverse events, and acute coronary syndromes.
…
Click here to read the full post on Forbes.
Speak Your Mind