Astrazeneca Launches Blood-Thinning Drug
 21 June, 2004

Pharmaceuticals group AstraZeneca boosted the armoury of doctors in the fight against thrombosis today with the launch of a new blood-thinning drug.

Patients in Germany will be the first to receive Exanta – an oral treatment which cuts the risk of potentially fatal blood clotting after surgery.

The drug will initially be given to patients recovering from hip or knee replacement operations, but could be extended to cover other life-threatening conditions.

EU regulators are reviewing whether to approve the drug for patients at risk of strokes and irregular heart beats.

But a dispute in the UK and Ireland over how the product is labelled is set to restrain initial sales, while Exanta has also yet to be licensed in the US.

A spokesman for AstraZeneca said talks would be held with UK regulators for the treatment to go on sale.

Benefits to the health service range from a lower cost than traditional injectable drugs to enabling patients to leave hospital sooner, he said.

AstraZeneca hopes the drug will challenge the dominance of warfarin in the market for blood-thinning treatments – worth 4 billion US dollars (£2.18 billion) a year.

Demand for drugs that can help to prevent blood clotting and strokes is rising by 13% a year as the populations of western nations become more elderly.

The launch of Exanta – the first blood-thinning drug of its type to reach the market for 60 years – follows 20 years of research and clinical trials involving 30,000 patients.

It will be launched in other EU countries including Sweden and Portugal during this year.