MARIA CHENG AP Medical Writer BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A new drug to prevent blood clots in heart patients reduced their chances of dying by more than 20 percent compared with the standard treatment, new research says. Researchers followed 18,624 patients worldwide from 2006 to 2008. About half the patients were taking clopidogrel, also known as Plavix, while the other half were taking an experimental drug called ticagrelor, or Brilinta, made by AstraZeneca PLC. Those on Brilinta had a 4.5 percent chance of dying, versus a 5.9 percent death risk for patients on Plavix, the world’s second-best selling medication made by France’s Sanofi-Aventis SA and U.S. drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Doctors also found Brilinta was safer for patients since they were less likely to have bleeding problems, one of Plavix’s known side effects. Ticagrelor had its own adverse effects, including breathing and heart rhythm abnormalities. The study results were announced Sunday at the European Society of Cardiology meeting in Barcelona, and also published online in the New England Journal of Medicine. The research was paid for by AstraZeneca. For years, Plavix has been the standard anti-clotting treatment, though another drug, Prasugrel, made by Eli Lilly, became available earlier this year. Heart patients often take blood thinners like Plavix to avoid more serious problems in the future. Brilinta is not yet on the market. If drug regulatory agencies eventually approve it, some experts predict it will be a best-seller. “It will become the new standard of care,” said Dr. Douglas Weaver, immediate past president of the American College of Cardiology. “It’s more effective (than Plavix) and appears to be even safer,” said Weaver, who was not linked to the study. Still, drug regulatory agencies typically take years to approve new drugs. Not everyone was as optimistic about Brilinta being able to crowd out the available blood thinners. “It means we will have a third option and the practitioner will have to make a very thoughtful decision about which of the three options is best for a given patient,” said Dr. Clyde Yancy, medical director of the Baylor Heart and Vascular Institute in Dallas and president of the American Heart Association. Yancy said more information was needed on how the drug works to understand its side effects. “We don’t want to change things overnight,” he said. “(But) this is another option.”
