The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7431 p729
16 December 2006

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

  Acrobat Reader

News summary

Oral anticoagulant is safe and effective

Dabigatran etexilate offers a convenient new therapy for deep vein thrombosis, a study presented at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology earlier this week suggests.

Patients undergoing knee surgery (n=2,076) were randomised to dabigatran or subcutaneous enoxaparin. Total venous thromboembolism and death rates were comparable, occurring in 40.5 per cent of patients receiving 150mg dabigatran, 36.4 per cent receiving 220mg dabigatran and 37.7 per cent receiving 40mg enoxaparin. Elevated levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were observed in 3.7 per cent, 2.8 per cent and 4.0 per cent of the patients, respectively. A late temporary rise in ALT was observed in 0.5 per cent of dabigatran-treated patients.

“Dabigatran was as effective and safe as enoxaparin, but brings advantages. It can be taken orally, there’s no need for blood monitoring and the same dose is used irrespective of weight,” said principal investigator Bengt Eriksson, from Sahlgrenska-Östra University Hospital, Gothenburg.