Some anti-acid meds may reduce Plavix efficacy

From CTV News:
Patients who are prescribed popular blood-thinning drug to prevent a heart attack while at the same time take certain anti-acid medications may actually boost their risk of having a heart attack, a new study suggests.

Canadian researchers have found that heart attack patients who take the blood-thinning drug clopidogrel (Plavix) have a 40 per cent greater risk of suffering another heart attack if they are also taking one of a number of proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs).

PPIs block the production of stomach acid and are used to treat conditions such as ulcers and acid reflux disease.

The PPIs linked to the increased heart attack risk are: omeprazole (Losec), lansoprazole (Prevacid) and rabeprazole (Pariet).

The researchers, who hail from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) in Toronto, say that they did not find an increased heart attack risk among patients taking the PPI pantoprazole (Pantoloc). They also did not find an increased risk among patients taking anti-acid medications known as H2 receptor antagonists, such as Pepcid or Zantac. ...more

SCOC upholds blood-thinning drug patent

From Canada.com:
The Supreme Court of Canada blocked the sale of a generic version of a popular blood-thinning drug in a ruling Thursday that reinforced patent protection to encourage brand-name pharmaceutical companies and other businesses to invest time and money into research.

The court unanimously dismissed generic drug-maker Apotex's bid to quash a Canadian patent for best-seller Plavix, which expires in 2012.

The ruling settles an intellectual property dispute over the validity of secondary patents that give drug companies protection, not only for their original inventions, but for an entire family of possible chemical compounds that encourage scientists to go back to the laboratory to improve a product. ...more

Cutting Plavix too soon could be deadly

From the Globe and Mail:
Patients given the blood-clot preventer Plavix after a heart attack or after receiving a stent have a far higher risk of heart attack or death in the three months after they stop taking the drug, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

They found a cluster of heart problems occurring within 90 days of stopping the drug in people whose heart disease was treated either with drugs or a stent to prop open their arteries.

"It was almost a twofold increased risk in that initial period compared to later follow-up periods," said Dr. P. Michael Ho of the Denver VA Medical Center, whose study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

People who have acute coronary syndrome -- an umbrella term for heart problems caused by reduced blood flow to the heart -- routinely get a prescription for Plavix, one of the world's best-selling medicines sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Sanofi-Aventis. ...more

Health Canada expands Plavix approval

From the Toronto Star:
Pharmaceutical giants Sanofi-aventis of France and Bristol-Myers Squibb of the United States say Health Canada has given approval for the use of their blood-thinner Plavix to reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke or death in patients with all acute coronary syndromes.

The approval is an expanded indication for Plavix, which offers protection from all types of heart attacks.

"This new indication is an important advance in the treatment of ACS (acute coronary syndrome) for patients with STEMI (ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction) as myocardial infarction is a life-threatening condition," said Shamir Mehta, director of interventional cardiology at McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences. ...more