Anti-clotting drug cuts heart attack deaths
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Thousands of deaths could be prevented each year by giving aspirin and another drug to prevent blood clots in patients who have suffered a heart attack, researchers said on Friday.
Each year, 10 million people worldwide have a heart attack. Aspirin is a standard emergency treatment but Dr. Zheng-Ming Chen and scientists at the University of Oxford in England found that adding the drug clopidogrel could save lives.
Clopidogrel, which is marketed under the name Plavix and sold by Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb is the world’s fourth biggest-selling drug.
“If early clopidogrel therapy was given in hospitals to just 1 million of the 10 million patients who have a heart attack every year then it would, on present evidence, prevent about 5,000 deaths and 5,000 non-fatal (repeat heart attacks) and stroke,” Chen said in The Lancet medical journal.
The researchers compared the impact of the drug against a placebo, or dummy pill, on 45,800 patients treated for heart attacks at 1,250 hospitals in China.
In patients who received 75 milligrams of the drug daily, in addition to an aspirin or other treatment for 4 weeks, there were 7 percent fewer deaths than in the placebo group and a 14 percent drop in repeat heart attacks.
ROUTINE TREATMENT
“These data show that it would be very reasonable to use this routinely on top of aspirin. It produces a modest but worthwhile benefit and the data show it is very safe,” Professor Rory Collins, a co-author of the study, said in an interview.
“It should be at least considered routinely in the emergency treatment of heart attack in hospital.”
The drug is complementary to aspirin but works in a different way. Only about two weeks of treatment with the drug would be needed so the costs would be small.
“It is easy, effective and safe,” Collins added.
The British Health Foundation said the research is the latest of several studies showing the benefits of the drug for patients with vascular disease.
“Its use is already well established for patients with unstable angina and this study confirms that it is safe and effective also in heart attacks,” said Professor Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director of the foundation, in a statement.
Cardiovascular disease is one the world’s biggest killers. It accounts for 29.2 percent of total global deaths according to the World Health Organisation. About 20 million people survive heart attack and stroke each year but many require long-term care.
Obesity, smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure and raised cholesterol are leading risk factors for the illness.
SOURCE: The Lancet
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