Heparin, grad students, a clinical revolution and giving credit where it's due
The story of a grad student who overcame remarkable odds only to be denied his moment of glory, or a tale of dark deceit and devilish doings? The story of heparin is as complicated as the chemistry itselfBlood is remarkable.A liquid that carries nutrients, waste products and the ever-vigilant cells of the immune system around the body, blood rapidly turns into a solid when it leaves its veins and arteries and becomes exposed to bodily tissues or the air outside. This process of solidification – clotting, or coagulation – is executed and controlled by a complex set of reactions and interactions primarily involving the e...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - September 4, 2013 Category: Science Authors: Richard P Grant Tags: theguardian.com Blogposts Science Source Type: news
Public Citizen Petitions FDA to Strengthen Plavix WarningsPublic Citizen Petitions FDA to Strengthen Plavix Warnings
The consumer watchdog group wants the agency to revise the warning labeling, distribute an updated patient guide, and ask companies to send "Dear Doctor" letters warning of preventable bleeding adverse effects that occur after one year of clopidogrel use. Heartwire (Source: Medscape Today Headlines)
Source: Medscape Today Headlines - August 22, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cardiology News Source Type: news
Public Citizen to FDA: No more clopidogrel one year post-DES
The consumer watchdog group wants the agency to revise the warning labeling, distribute an updated patient guide, and ask companies to send "Dear Doctor" letters warning of preventable bleeding adverse effects that occur after one year of clopidogrel use. (Source: theHeart.org)
Source: theHeart.org - August 21, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: news
Personalized drug dosing necessary for older heart patients
Older heart patients present unique challenges for determining the optimal dosages of medications, so a new study from researchers at Duke Medicine offers some rare clarity about the use of drugs that are used to treat patients with heart attacks. For certain heart patients older than age 75, a half-dose of the anti-platelet drug prasugrel works about as well as the typical dosage of clopidogrel, according to a team led by the Duke Clinical Research Institute that looked at a sub-study of a large clinical trial... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - August 20, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cardiovascular / Cardiology Source Type: news
Baseline Angiography Subgroup Sees Prasugrel Benefit Baseline Angiography Subgroup Sees Prasugrel Benefit
It's not that angiography led to some unprecedented therapeutic benefit, investigators caution; rather, it signaled a group of patients who actually did better on prasugrel than clopidogrel in this otherwise negative trial. Heartwire (Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines)
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines - August 16, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cardiology News Source Type: news
Baseline angiography subgroup sees prasugrel benefit in TRILOGY ACS
It's not that angiography led to some unprecedented therapeutic benefit, investigators caution; rather, it signaled a group of patients who actually did better on prasugrel than clopidogrel in this otherwise negative trial. (Source: theHeart.org)
Source: theHeart.org - August 16, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: news
TRILOGY ACS: Prasugrel 5 mg vs Clopidogrel in ElderlyTRILOGY ACS: Prasugrel 5 mg vs Clopidogrel in Elderly
Cutting its dosage in half for patients aged 75 or older lowered prasugrel's bleeding risk to clopidogrel's risk level while providing comparable clinical benefit in the TRILOGY ACS trial; concerns were that a full prasugrel dosage in the elderly would pose too much of a bleeding risk. Heartwire (Source: Medscape Today Headlines)
Source: Medscape Today Headlines - July 30, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cardiology News Source Type: news
High platelet reactivity on clopidogrel predicts stent thrombosis, heart attack, and bleeding
Patients who receive a drug-eluting stent (DES) and demonstrate high platelet reactivity on clopidogrel are more likely to have blood clots form on the stent and to suffer a heart attack; however, these patients are less likely to develop bleeding complications. One-year results of the ADAPT-DES trial was published online in The Lancet. The findings were first presented at last year's Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) annual scientific symposium... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - July 30, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cardiovascular / Cardiology Source Type: news
Prasugrel 5 mg, clopidogrel similarly safe, effective in non-PCI elderly with ACS
Cutting its dosage in half for patients aged >75 lowered prasugrel's bleeding risk to clopidogrel's risk level while providing comparable clinical benefit in the TRILOGY ACS trial; concerns were that a full prasugrel dosage in the elderly would pose too much of a bleeding risk. (Source: theHeart.org)
Source: theHeart.org - July 29, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: news
1-year results of ADAPT-DES trial published in The Lancet
(Cardiovascular Research Foundation) Patients who receive a drug-eluting stent and demonstrate high platelet reactivity on clopidogrel are more likely to have blood clots form on the stent and to suffer a heart attack; however, these patients are less likely to develop bleeding complications. One-year results of the ADAPT-DES trial will be published online July 26, 2013, in The Lancet. The findings were first presented at last year's Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics annual scientific symposium. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - July 26, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news
Clopidogrel in Infants with Systemic-to-Pulmonary-Artery Shunts
Medications approved for adults often have additional uses in pediatric patients. Such is the case -- as described by Wessel and colleagues -- for clopidogrel, an agent that blocks the P2Y12 component of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) receptors on the surface of platelets. ADP receptors prevent the activation of the glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor complex, thereby reducing aggregation. Clopidogrel is used most commonly as a prophylactic antiplatelet therapy in adults with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, but is increasingly employed in the pediatric population, particularly in those with cardiac disease. Pediatric cardi...
Source: SCCM RSS News - July 8, 2013 Category: Intensive Care Source Type: news
Risk Of Stroke Effectively Reduced By Simple 2-Drug Combination
Results of a Phase III clinical trial showed that a simple drug regimen of two anti-clotting drugs - clopidogrel and aspirin- lowered the risk of stroke by almost one-third, compared to the standard therapy of aspirin alone, when given to patients who had minor or transient stroke symptoms to prevent subsequent attacks. Described this week in the New England Journal of Medicine (July 4, 2013 print issue), the clinical trial was conducted at multiple sites in China and designed in partnership with a physician at UC San Francisco... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - June 28, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Stroke Source Type: news
Drug Combo Cuts Stroke Risk After TIA
A simple combination of two anti-clotting drugs, clopidogrel and aspirin, can cut the risk of a stroke in patients who have already experienced a mini-stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). This was the result of a phase 3 clinical trial conducted in China with the help of a US physician who says it could change the standard of care in the US. The investigators report their findings in the 26 June online issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, NEJM. The trial took place at several sites in China and was designed in partnership with S... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - June 27, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Stroke Source Type: news
After Minor Stroke, Adding Clopidogrel to Aspirin Reduces Further Risk in Some (FREE)
By Joe Elia
Patients taking clopidogrel in addition to aspirin after minor ischemic stroke show a lower risk for early recurrence, according to a New England Journal of Medicine study. An … (Source: Physician's First Watch current issue)
Source: Physician's First Watch current issue - June 27, 2013 Category: Primary Care Source Type: news
Drug Combo May Reduce Risk of Second Stroke: Study
After small or mini-stroke, aspirin plus Plavix tied to lower odds of another event (Source: WebMD Health)
Source: WebMD Health - June 26, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
