Antiplatelet drugs serve as a potential way to combat blood clotting. According to a research reported in the American Heart Association’s Emerging Science Series webinar, a potential antiplatelet drug known as ticagrelor could be efficient to use with low-dose aspirin as compared to the normally used drug clopidogrel.
If the dosage of aspirin is increased it could lead to bad results, even more than the standard clopidogrel, but lower doses of aspirin may bring just the opposite effect. The research is a secondary examination of a clinical test that drew a comparison between the two drugs and apparently found ticagrelor to be less efficient in North America than in other nations. Researchers believe that the aspirin dose when combined with the anti-clotting medicine may introduce some changes to ticagrelor’s efficacy.
It apparently came to fore that those patients who were administered ticagrelor with high doses of aspirin faced apparent bad effects than those receiving clopidogrel. Both the medications are used to prohibit creation of hazardous blood clots in patients with acute coronary syndrome inclusive of those who have encountered a heart attack.
The new examination put forth that patients consuming ticagrelor with less than 300 milligrams of aspirin on an everyday basis were apparently 16 percent less likely than those taking clopidogrel with low-dose aspirin to suffer from a heart attack, stroke or death within a year.
“Patients with acute coronary syndrome have options to prevent recurrent events. Physicians choosing to use ticagrelor in countries where it is approved and available should consider using a low-dose of maintenance aspirin with the drug,†cited Kenneth W. Mahaffey, M.D., lead author and co-director of cardiovascular research at the Duke Clinical Research Institute, and associate professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center.
The initial part of the analysis from Platelet Inhibition and Patient Outcomes (PLATO) trial, disclosed that ticagrelor was less effective than clopidogrel in North America but not in other areas across the globe. With a view to comprehend these regional differences, the PLATO data was examined. While a chance could not be overruled, aspirin dose served as an essential explanation.
Ticagrelor is presently under Federal Drug Administration review in the United States and has obtained approval for use in certain countries.
The research will be presented in the American Heart Association’s Emerging Science Series.