New Drug Helps Patients With Atrial Fibrillation
New Drug Helps Patients With Atrial Fibrillation
Feb. 10, 2011 (Los Angeles) -- The experimental anti-clotting drug apixaban beat aspirin at preventing dangerous blood clots or strokes in people with the abnormal heart rhythm atrial fibrillation, according to final results of the so-called AVERROES trial.
The late-stage phase III study was stopped early after apixaban's advantages became clear, and early results were first reported in September 2010.
Today, the final results were presented at the American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference 2011 and simultaneously published online in The New England Journal of Medicine.
If approved, apixaban will offer an alternative to the old standby, warfarin, which many people can't or won't take.
In the study of about 5,600 patients with atrial fibrillation in which warfarin therapy was considered unsuitable, apixaban cut the risk of stroke by more than half compared with aspirin.
For every 1,000 patients treated with apixaban instead of aspirin for one year, 21 strokes, nine deaths, and 33 hospitalizations will be avoided, says Hans-Christoph Diener, MD, chair of the department of neurology at the University of Essen, Germany.
However, two of 1,000 patients will suffer a major bleed, he says. Diener, who presented the results here on behalf of the AVERROES investigators, consults for Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer, which funded the study.
"The results of this trial will change medical practice," Diener tells WebMD.
A Visual Guide to Understanding Stroke
The late-stage phase III study was stopped early after apixaban's advantages became clear, and early results were first reported in September 2010.
Today, the final results were presented at the American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference 2011 and simultaneously published online in The New England Journal of Medicine.
If approved, apixaban will offer an alternative to the old standby, warfarin, which many people can't or won't take.
In the study of about 5,600 patients with atrial fibrillation in which warfarin therapy was considered unsuitable, apixaban cut the risk of stroke by more than half compared with aspirin.
For every 1,000 patients treated with apixaban instead of aspirin for one year, 21 strokes, nine deaths, and 33 hospitalizations will be avoided, says Hans-Christoph Diener, MD, chair of the department of neurology at the University of Essen, Germany.
However, two of 1,000 patients will suffer a major bleed, he says. Diener, who presented the results here on behalf of the AVERROES investigators, consults for Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer, which funded the study.
"The results of this trial will change medical practice," Diener tells WebMD.
A Visual Guide to Understanding Stroke
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