New oral blood thinner rivaroxaban from Bayer and Jannsen shown to cut recurrence of life-threatening blood clots
Bayer and Janssen Pharmaceuticals have revealed that their jointly developed oral blood thinner Xarelto (rivaroxaban) had considerably brought down the risk of recurring formation of life-threatening blood clots in the vein as per the findings of their late-breaking study.
Rivaroxaban Blood Thinner Clinical Trial
This, they demonstrated in a blood thinner clinical trial dubbed EINSTEIN CHOICE. The trial featured over 3,000 patients and had investigated the oral blood thinner rivaroxaban in strengths of 10 mg and 20 mg given daily once against 100mg daily dosage of aspirin in patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) who had who were previously treated anticoagulant therapy for a duration between 6 to 12 months.
Dr Joerg Moeller, Member of the Executive Committee of Bayer AG’s Pharmaceutical Division and Head of Development, on the blood thinner trial results of rivaroxaban, said: “EINSTEIN CHOICE is another example of Bayer’s commitment to help answer important medical questions that arise in daily clinical practice.
“The EINSTEIN Clinical Development Programme, including not only EINSTEIN CHOICE but also EINSTEIN PE, EINSTEIN DVT, and EINSTEIN EXTENSION, has demonstrated the clinical utility of rivaroxaban in the treatment and secondary prevention of venous thromboembolism.
“These new data from EINSTEIN CHOICE add important additional insights on how best to provide extended protection for patients with a VTE.”
Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, blocking a vein (venous thrombosis) or artery (arterial thrombosis). Photo courtesy of Bayer AG.
A press release from Bayer on the oral blood thinner rivaroxaban trial revealed that patients with VTE who compulsorily needed to continue with anticoagulant therapy after the 6-12 month period were omitted from the blood thinner clinical trial.
VTE includes both pulmonary embolism (PE) and symptomatic deep vein thrombosis (DVT). It is regarded as the third most common factor after heart attack and stroke that leads to cardiovascular death.
EINSTEIN CHOICE Oral Blood Thinner
According to the EINSTEIN CHOICE blood thinner clinical trial, 20mg daily dosage of rivaroxaban was shown to have cut the risk of recurrent VTE by 66% against 100mg daily dosage of aspirin.
On the other hand, 10mg daily dosage of the Bayer oral blood thinner rivaroxaban had decreased the risk of recurrent VTE by 74% compared with 100mg daily dosage of aspirin.
Professor Jeffrey Weitz, the co-chair of the EINSTEIN CHOICE blood thinner clinical trial, said: “In patients with unprovoked VTE or with ongoing risk factors, the risk of recurrence is up to 10% in the first year if anticoagulation therapy is stopped after 3, 6 or 12 months. But many physicians are reluctant to continue anticoagulation therapy for longer durations because they are uncertain of the benefit-risk balance for individual patients.
“The findings from EINSTEIN CHOICE demonstrated exactly what the study name promised: once approved, rivaroxaban 10 mg once daily will be available to physicians as an additional choice in their armamentarium against recurrent VTE alongside the already approved 20 mg once-daily dose.
“This flexibility of choices in rivaroxaban doses will then enable physicians to use a precision approach to selecting the most appropriate extended treatment based on assessment of individual patient characteristics.”
Jeffrey Weitz is also Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University, and Executive Director of the Thrombosis and Atherosclerosis Research Institute, Hamilton, Canada.
As per Bayer, the 20mg and 10mg dosages of the oral blood thinner rivaroxaban showed comparable and low major bleeding rates on par with the aspirin therapy to meet the principal safety outcome of the blood thinner clinical trial.