The dabigatran party isn’t even cleaned-up yet, when another warfarin competitor has hit the press wires.
As reported on Cardiobrief from a Bayer press release, Rivaroxaban (Xarelto) was as effective as warfarin in stroke prevention in patients’ with AF. A composite of major and minor bleeding events were also similar to warfarin.
Rivaroxaban is a FactorXa inhibitor so it works farther north in the coagulation cascade than does dabigatran.
The ROCKET-AF trial randomized 14,000 patients with AF. It is scheduled to be presented at the American Heart Association meeting in two weeks. The Bayer press release speaks of non-inferiority, not superiority. We will see, but one would have thought if it was superior, this would have been mentioned.
And there is a third player in the warfarin-replacement parade, apixaban, a FactorXa inhibitor under development by pharma-behemoths Bayer and J and J.
A new era of warfarin substitutes are here. Progress.
Who would have thought this possible ten years ago.
JMM
Reference: Cardiobrief: An outstanding source of cardiovascular news.