New Drug Busts Clot Risks in Joint Replacement
Tuesday, 20 September 2011, 00:15 IST
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London: Scientists have developed a new pill that busts blood clot risks among older patients who have hip or knee replacements. Clinical trials, involving 8,000 patients who had undergone hip or knee replacement surgeries, show the blood-thinning pill, called apixaban, prevents clotting that can trigger sudden death while not worsening bleeding risk. Ander Cohen, vascular physician at King's College Hospital, London, said: "Blood clots are responsible for around 25,000 preventable deaths in the UK... Apixaban represents a new option in clot prevention for UK surgeons." "Clinical data showed that apixaban was more effective than the anticoagulant enoxaparin and, importantly, it also showed no increase in bleeding rates compared to enoxaparin," the Telegraph quoted Cohen as saying. Two pharma giants, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer, have been working since 2007 to develop the pill.
Source: IANS
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