Monday, December 10, 2007

J&J, Bayer Pill Caused Fewer Clots Than Sanofi Drug in Study

From Bloomberg:
Bayer AG and Johnson & Johnson's experimental blood thinner led to fewer clots and deaths in patients after hip surgery than a widely used therapy sold by Sanofi-Aventis SA, a study found.

About 1.1 percent of patients had serious blood clots or died on the Bayer and J&J pill, rivaroxaban, compared with 3.7 percent of those taking Sanofi's injected medicine, Lovenox, according to research reported today at the American Society of Hematology meeting in Atlanta. Both drugs had similar rates of bleeding, a side effect of anti-clotting medications.

Rivaroxaban may help J&J and Bayer take market share from the injectable Lovenox, Sanofi's best-seller with $3.5 billion in sales last year. Bayer, Germany's largest drugmaker, asked European regulators to allow sale of the drug under the brand name Xarelto in October, and has projected peak sales of $2.9 billion. J&J, of New Brunswick, New Jersey, has said it will seek U.S. marketing approval in the second half of 2008. ...more

No comments: