The combo appears to reduce the risk of the above mentioned life-threatening conditions, according to a study presented these days at the American College of Cardiology in Orlando, Florida and published in the March 31 online issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

 

Plavix is sold in the United States by Bristol-Myers and had sales of $5.6 billion last year and the current data could make sales go even higher.

The study was led by Dr. Stuart Connolly of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and involved 7,554 patients in the United States and 32 other countries. They were not able to take warfarin (K-antagonist therapy). All of them were treated with aspirin; half also were given Plavix.

 

The participants were followed for four years. At the end of this period, the researchers found that Plavix – aspirin combo lowered by 11 percent the risk of heart attacks, heart-related deaths, strokes and blood clots.

 

“In patients with atrial fibrillation for whom vitamin K-antagonist therapy was unsuitable, the addition of clopidogrel to aspirin reduced the risk of major vascular events, especially stroke, and increased the risk of major hemorrhage,” the researchers concluded.

 

Atrial fibrillation is a form of arrhythmia that affects more than 2 million people in the United States, according to the National Institutes of Health. The new therapy might improve these people’s chances of developing blood clots, something very familiar with atrial fibrillation, and might even save their lives.