Positive Trial Results for Blood Thinner

AstraZeneca announced that its study of ticagrelor (Brilinta) has met its primary efficacy endpoint. In the trial known as Pegasus-TIMI 54, some 21,000 patients taking the tablets twice a day at a dose of either 60 mg or 90 mg plus low-dose aspirin for secondary prevention experienced no unexpected safety issues.

Complete results will be presented in March at the American College of Cardiology meeting in San Diego, CA.

According to Tim Anderson, a financial analyst with Sanford Bernstein, the drug—if approved for secondary prevention—faces competition from Plavix.

Plavix may already have a lead since “Plavix already gets used off-label to a moderate degree” in heart attack patients similar to the patient population in the Pegasus trial.

Plavix was one of the drugs used in recent dual anti-platelet therapy trials, the subject of several papers at the November 2014 ACC meeting in Chicago.

Doctors disagree on whether dual anti-platelet therapy should be continued past one year, due to the increased risk of bleeding in such therapy. US physicians seem more receptive to the idea than do European doctors.

According to AstraZeneca, the patients in the Pegasus trial represent only a fraction of the overall market for such a product.