Monday, July 9, 2007

Lovenox's rear view mirror - "Warning: Objects are closer than they appear?"


Pharmalyst's previous post on June 30th had mentioned that Bayer/J&J's Rivaroxaban could be a looming threat to Sanofi's LMWH Lovenox (which had 06 sales of almost 3 billion Euros)

Today we read from this Reuters article that:

Bayer's blood-clot drug beats Lovenox in key study

"Sunday July 8, 3:41 am ET By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Bayer AG's (XETRA:BAYG.DE - News) experimental pill rivaroxaban is significantly more effective than standard injections of Lovenox in preventing blood clots after knee surgery, researchers said on Sunday.

new class of oral anticoagulants to market.

Results of a large Phase III trial showed only 9.6 percent of patients given rivaroxaban experienced venous thromboembolism (VTE), or blood clots, following total knee replacement against 18.9 percent of those on Sanofi-Aventis SA's (Paris:SASY.PA - News) Lovenox.

Major life-threatening VTE occurred in 1 percent of rivaroxaban patients against 2.6 percent for the Lovenox group."

BMS/Pfizer also had encouraging news on Apixaban. According to CNN Money:

Bristol-Pfizer anti-clotting drug clears hurdle

"July 8 2007: 7:58 AM EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- An experimental anti-clotting medicine from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Pfizer Inc. met its main effectiveness and safety goals in a mid-stage study, researchers said Sunday, positioning it as a future option over current popular but problematic drugs.

Patients treated with apixaban, a pill, had comparable rates in two main measures to those on the standard of care - an injected therapy plus one drug from the class that includes the widely used warfarin. The measures included rates of blood clots and dangerous bleedings."



1 comment:

kaney said...

One of the most significant early complications after total joint arthroplasty is the development of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which may result in life threatening pulmonary embolism. Thromboembolism is the most common cause of death occurring within three months of surgery. Prevention of thrombosis is important to prevent this potential life-threatening complication of pulmonary embolism.

Phyto B