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Apixaban with antiplatelet therapy after acute coronary syndrome

  • John H. Alexander
  • , Renato D. Lopes
  • , Stefan James
  • , Rakhi Kilaru
  • , Yaohua He
  • , Puneet Mohan
  • , Deepak L. Bhatt
  • , Shaun Goodman
  • , Freek W. Verheugt
  • , Marcus Flather
  • , Kurt Huber
  • , Danny Liaw
  • , Steen E. Husted
  • , Jose Lopez-Sendon
  • , Raffaele De Caterina
  • , Petr Jansky
  • , Harald Darius
  • , Dragos Vinereanu
  • , Jan H. Cornel
  • , Frank Cools
  • Dan Atar, Jose Luis Leiva-Pons, Matyas Keltai, Hisao Ogawa, Prem Pais, Alexander Parkhomenko, Witold Ruzyllo, Rafael Diaz, Harvey White, Mikhail Ruda, Margarida Geraldes, Jack Lawrence, Robert A. Harrington, Lars Wallentin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1009 Scopus citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Apixaban, an oral, direct factor Xa inhibitor, may reduce the risk of recurrent ischemic events when added to antiplatelet therapy after an acute coronary syndrome. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial comparing apixaban, at a dose of 5 mg twice daily, with placebo, in addition to standard antiplatelet therapy, in patients with a recent acute coronary syndrome and at least two additional risk factors for recurrent ischemic events. RESULTS: The trial was terminated prematurely after recruitment of 7392 patients because of an increase in major bleeding events with apixaban in the absence of a counterbalancing reduction in recurrent ischemic events. With a median follow-up of 241 days, the primary outcome of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or ischemic stroke occurred in 279 of the 3705 patients (7.5%) assigned to apixaban (13.2 events per 100 patient-years) and in 293 of the 3687 patients (7.9%) assigned to placebo (14.0 events per 100 patient-years) (hazard ratio with apixaban, 0.95; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.80 to 1.11; P = 0.51). The primary safety outcome of major bleeding according to the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) definition occurred in 46 of the 3673 patients (1.3%) who received at least one dose of apixaban (2.4 events per 100 patient-years) and in 18 of the 3642 patients (0.5%) who received at least one dose of placebo (0.9 events per 100 patient-years) (hazard ratio with apixaban, 2.59; 95% CI, 1.50 to 4.46; P = 0.001). A greater number of intracranial and fatal bleeding events occurred with apixaban than with placebo. CONCLUSIONS: The addition of apixaban, at a dose of 5 mg twice daily, to antiplatelet therapy in high-risk patients after an acute coronary syndrome increased the number of major bleeding events without a significant reduction in recurrent ischemic events. (Funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer; APPRAISE-2 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00831441.)

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)699-708
Number of pages10
JournalNew England Journal of Medicine
Volume365
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 25 Aug 2011
Externally publishedYes

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