THROMBOSIS DRUG COULD HELP TREAT SERIOUS HEART ATTACKS, SAYS JAMA STUDY

Fondaparinux, a drug that prevents thrombosis (blood clotting), has been shown to improve the treatment of the most serious form of heart attacks, according to data published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The trial, OASIS-6, evaluated the safety and efficacy of fondaparinux in more than 12,000 patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a serious form of heart attack. Investigators randomly assigned patients to add-on therapy with fondaparinux or placebo, adjusting the dose and treatment plan to take into account other blood thinning medications the patient's physician routinely used, such as glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors or unfractionated heparin. The trial studied whether fondaparinux reduced the risk of death or repeat myocardial infarction within 30 days, while avoiding excessive bleeding complications.

"Results of OASIS 6 showed the benefit of fondaparinux for both morbidity and mortality and may prove to be a valuable treatment option for these acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients in the future," said Salim Yusuf, principal investigator of the study and professor of medicine at McMaster University and Hamilton Heath Sciences in Ontario, Canada. "In addition, the bleeding incidences observed in OASIS 5 and 6, coupled with the efficacy outcomes, demonstrated that fondaparinux offered a positive net-benefit risk profile in patients across a range of ACS."