New anti-clotting drug beats Plavix

A new anti-clotting drug, ticagrelor (Brilinta), was better than than clopidogrel (Plavix) in preventing new heart attacks and in reducing deaths among patients who have had a heart attack, a new study finds. "Clopidogrel is widely used in the treatment of acute coronary syndrome," said lead researcher Dr. Robert A. Harrington, director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute at Duke University. "Ticagrelor looks to be a superior antiplatelet agent in patients with acute coronary syndrome." Co-researcher Dr. Lars Wallentin, a professor of cardiology at the Uppsala Clinical Research Center at University Hospital, in Sweden, added that "now we have a new and better alternative to standard treatment to prevent patients with myocardial infarction from new myocardial infarction, and also to improve their chances of survival." The report is published in the August 30 online edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, to coincide with the planned presentation of the study Sunday at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Barcelona. - Drugs.com