Drugs Xagena
The FDA ( Food and Drug Administration ) has approved Kengreal ( Cangrelor ), an intravenous antiplatelet drug that prevents formation of harmful blood clots in the coronary arteries.
It is approved for adult patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention ( PCI ), a procedure used to open a blocked or narrowed coronary artery to improve blood flow to the heart muscle.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ), PCI is performed on approximately 500,000 people in the United States each year.
The coronary arteries are opened by inflating a balloon at the site of the narrowing, usually followed by placement of a small mesh tube, called a stent, to keep the artery open.
By preventing platelets from accumulating, Kengreal reduces the risk of serious clotting complications related to the procedure, including myocardial infarction and clotting of the stent ( stent thrombosis ).
As with other FDA-approved anti-platelet drugs, bleeding, including life-threatening bleeding, is the most serious risk of Kengreal.
In a clinical trial that compared Kengreal to Plavix ( Clopidogrel ) in more than 10,000 participants, Kengreal significantly reduced the occurrence of myocardial infarction, the need for further procedures to open the artery and stent thrombosis.
The overall occurrence of serious bleeding was low but more common with Cangrelor than with Clopidogrel. Approximately one in every 170 patients, treated with Cangrelor, had a serious bleed versus approximately one in every 275 Clopidogrel patients. ( Xagena )
Source: FDA, 2015
XagenaMedicine_2015
