New Anticoagulant medicine

Is anyone familiar with the new anticoagulant medication (currently available in Europe) that is expected to be approved by the FDA in March of 2013?

[Brooke_38]

Eliquis (Apixaban) is still awaiting a US approval, the FDA data is set as March 17, 2013.

Eliquis which belongs to a class of drugs called Factor Xa inhibitors is a new generation oral anticoagulant / blood thinning drug and is expected to replace warfarin the current gold standard treatment for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation.

The clinical data on Eliquis in atrial fibrillation is most impressive, when compared to Xarelto or Pradaxa. It's now just waiting for the FDA to give it the "thumbs up"

[Jerry_NJ]

Thanks for the detailed answer... still I wonder when I see the law suit activity around Pradaxa what improvement these new drugs really offer over warfarin.

I passed on the offer to put me on Pradaxa a couple of years back, driven in part by the high cost and the fact I got along well with warfarin, albeit I have the blood test every month with warfarin.  I think that is a key benefit of Pradaxa, not need for periodic blood tests.

[Brooke_38]

Ironically, I was at an all day conference the other day on "Emergent Issues in Cardiac Care", where these drugs were discussed. What I heard is that while we are hearing the negative stories about Pradaxa, there are many lives that have been saved from the devastating effects of a stroke. The down side to Pradaxa is that there is no known antidote to reverse the effects...like vitamin K that is the antidote to reverse Warfarin. You are correct in your statement about the convenience of not needing periodic INR testing.

Like everything...there are pros and con's to just about everything there is.

[DeltaDawn23]

Does this mean Warfarin will not be available?

[Brooke_38]

As far as I know, Warfarin will still be available. I didn't hear anything about it being discontinued.

[nross]

Thank you for your helpful information. I'm looking forward to having this new medicine as an option. I heard that it doesn't affect the kidneys.