New Drug Better for Ailing Hearts
Reported November 23, 2006
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — A new medication might be better at treating heart patients in the emergency room than standard drugs.
In a study conducted among nearly 14,000 patients in 17 countries, the anti-clotting agent bivalirudin — known by the brand name Angiomax — outperformed heparin plus GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors when it came to reducing the risk of major bleeding.
The researchers explain people who suffer from acute coronary syndromes (ACS) often go to the emergency room with severe chest pains. Left untreated, the condition can lead to a full-blown heart attack. Doctors generally prescribe heparin plus GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors to thin the blood, thus avoiding the formation of a deadly clot. But sometimes these medications thin the blood so much excessive bleeding results.
The current study compared patients who were given the standard treatment to those who received the new drug plus GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors and those who received the new drug alone.
Bivalirudin alone was just as effective in stopping the formation of a blood clot as the other two therapies but led to a 47-percent reduction in the risk of bleeding.
“After testing several different combinations of drug therapies, we found this medication delivered by itself is as effective as combination drugs and results in less bleeding, which may lead to improved outcomes for patients who suffer from these emergent cardiac events,” reports Gregg Stone, M.D., the Columbia University Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital physician who led the research.
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine, published online Nov. 22, 2006