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Atrial fibrillation Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban

Apixaban (Eliquis) gets FDA approval

Yesterday afternoon, the FDA finally approved apixaban (Eliquis) for the prevention of stroke in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. I use the words ‘finally approved’ because the markedly positive ARISTOTLE trial was published 15 months ago in the New England Journal of Medicine. The long delay was mysterious. On paper, apixaban looks to be the […]

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Atrial fibrillation Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban

New post up on Trials and Fibrillations…Apixaban (Eliquis) was supposed to beat Pradaxa and Xarelto?

There was big news this week on the much-anticipated, but yet-to-be-evaluated novel blood thinner, apixaban (Eliquis). The FDA wants more information from the ARISTOTLE trial. They have inquired about “data management and verification.” That sounds serious. I made some comments about apixaban over at Trials and Fibrillations on theHeart.org. Here’s the mystery: Apixaban boasts incredibly […]

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Atrial fibrillation Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban

Let there be three…

You can mark August 2011 as an amazing month for news in the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). In this post, I will attempt to share what I have learned about the two new blood-thinning drugs, apixaban and rivaroxaban–both Factor Xa inhibitors. (Disclaimer: this is not a book chapter, rather a blog post from a […]

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Atrial fibrillation Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban General Medicine

Rivaroxaban: The next non-warfarin oral blood thinner

The unrelenting epidemic of inactivity and excessive eating wreaks havoc on more than just the heart and blood vessels. Lugging around extra weight also breaks down the joints and back. For evidence, look no further than the waiting room of any orthopedist; the people waiting for joint replacements look the same as those waiting to […]

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Atrial fibrillation Dabigatran/Rivaroxaban/Apixaban

An update on AF: New blood thinners

It’s been awhile since I have written about the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). I would like to remedy this by sharing a few thoughts on three recent stories about AF: one involved a soon-to-be-approved blood-thinning drug; the second highlighted a potentially exciting new device for ablating AF, and the third story irresponsibly sensationalized the […]