Here we go again!

[Marty]

Betrixaban bests warfarin at lower doses in Phase II study.
Bloomberg News (3/16, Pettypiece) reports that "Merck & Co. and Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s experimental anti-clotting drug betrixaban caused less bleeding than an older treatment in people with an irregular heartbeat, a study found." Researchers presenting the study at the American College of Cardiology conference on Monday noted that "patients with atrial fibrillation had fewer incidents of bleeding when taking the lowest dose of betrixaban than those given warfarin." Meanwhile, "bleeding rates at the higher doses of betrixaban were similar to warfarin."

The San Francisco Business Times (3/15, Leuty) noted that "the 508-patient Phase II study" was "conducted at 35 centers in the United States, Canada, and Germany." The "40-milligram dose of betrixaban on 127 patients demonstrated less major and fewer non-major bleeding incidences than 127 patients on warfarin."

 

[Ross]

No comment. Not getting hopes up for nothin no more. If they'd only admit that most of the bleeding caused by warfarin is noncompliance and mismanagement, we'd be getting somewhere.

 

[catwoman]

Has anyone ever seen stats on how long the typical a-fib patient is on warfarin? I'm sure that many are taken off or put onto another Rx.

 

[lance]

Hi Marsha,
My spouse is taking warfarin for a/fib and he has a stent so he'll take it for life. I wonder where all these "bleeding" people hang out? Too bad the study doesn't mention clotting statistics.
Glad to see the study refers to an anti-coagulant and not blood thinner.

 

[catwoman]

Lance:
My husband took warfarin for 7 months post-op for a-fib. The reason I brought up how long patients are put on warfarin is because many (who knows the %?) are put on it temporarily after joint replacement and cardiac surgery, then taken off. Some patients are put on low-dose aspirin following those surgeries, some are put on warfarin.
There are a lot of drugs waiting in the wings to replace warfarin, but it appears that most of those would be for conditions that might not necessarily warrant anticoagulation for life, i.e., joint replacements, a patient's first DVT, a-fib following cardiac surgery.
I think I've seen figures before as to one clinic's % of patients who are mechanical valvers and repeat DVT/PE patients. Not sure who posted it or when.

 

[dick0236]

.......most of the bleeding caused by warfarin is noncompliance and mismanagement,.

I agree with Ross. The problems with warfarin are due mostly to patient noncompliance, professional mismanagement and a lack of patient education. New anti-coagulant drugs come and go, but warfarin remains the drug of choice for mechanical valve patients.

 

[lance]

Hello all,
I completely agree with the above postings.
Wouldn't it be nice if statistics were kept for warfarin mismanagement, noncompliance and clotting? There's so much emphasis on bleeding somehow clotting gets overlooked statistically.
Following knee replacement surgery an acquaintance chose a drug "under study" over warfarin because it required less management. She developed a clot in the groin and luckily it didn't move so she's recovering nicely.
I really don't like warfarin but when it's managed properly it's not a problem

 

[AgilityDog]

And no one has mentioned the COST of this experimental drug. I'll take $4 warfarin over "$60 co-pay tier-3 drug" any day. And it hasn't been around long enough to determine other side effects.
Someone else can be your guinea pig, thanks.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

I agree with Ross. The problems with warfarin are due mostly to patient noncompliance, professional mismanagement and a lack of patient education. New anti-coagulant drugs come and go, but warfarin remains the drug of choice for mechanical valve patients.

AMEN ! AMEN ! AMEN !

and AMEN to Agility Dog's comment about COST!

How many Millions of Patients are on Warfarin / Coumadin?

And the developers want all of them to switch over to their New Patented High Cost Drug based on a study of a few HUNDRED patients? Give me a Break, I'll stick with my Warfarin and anti-coagulation clinic!

'AL Capshaw'