For stent patients, use of Lilly and Daiichi Sankyo Co  Ltd’s prasugrel could offer better protection against heart  attack, stroke and death from cardiovascular events than  standard treatment with Plavix, researchers said in an article  published in the journal Lancet’s online edition. The results of the sub-analysis of data from the  TRITON-TIMI 38 trial were being presented Saturday at the  American College of Cardiology meeting in Chicago. Study investigators found that intensive anti-clotting  therapy with prasugrel resulted in fewer serious complications,  including stent-related blood clots known as stent thrombosis,  than with standard Plavix, regardless of the type of stent  used. A 58 percent reduction in stent thrombosis was seen with  prasugrel compared with Plavix. “Stent thrombosis was reduced both early and late after  stent placement in patients randomly assigned prasugrel,” the  researchers said. Stents are small wire mesh tubes inserted into the coronary  arteries that supply blood to the heart to help keep them from  narrowing again after they have been cleared of blockages in an  angioplasty procedure. The researchers, led by Stephen Wiviott of Brigham and  Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, did a sub-analysis  of the TRITON-TIMI data to assess the rate, outcomes and  prevention of coronary events in 12,844 patients with different  types of stents who were treated with prasugrel plus aspirin,  or Plavix, also known as clopidogrel, plus aspirin. Roughly half of the patients received bare metal stents and  half received stents coated with a drug to prevent re-clogging. Drug-eluting stents reduce the need for repeat procedures but  raise the risk of stent thrombosis. Efforts to reduce the risk  of stent-related clots, stroke or heart attack have focused on  anti-clotting therapy. The original TRITON-TIMI study of heart patients, first  unveiled in November, showed prasugrel was 19 percent more  effective than Plavix in preventing cardiovascular death,  nonfatal heart attacks and strokes, but caused a significantly  higher amount of serious bleeding. Plavix, one of the world’s best-selling drugs, is sold by  Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Sanofi-Aventis. Lilly in December asked the U.S. Food and Drug  Administration to approval prasugrel, considered the most  important experimental medicine in its pipeline. If approved,  Lilly said the drug’s brand name would be Effient.
Lilly drug reduces stent clot risks, study finds.