The Medicines Company announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has granted a positive opinion applicable to all Member States of the European Union/European Economic Area that will extend the use of Angiox (bivalirudin) to include patients with heart attacks (so-called ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)) undergoing emergency heart procedures called primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The basis of this approval is the landmark HORIZONS-AMI study which was the first drug trial to demonstrate a reduction in deaths from heart attacks in patients undergoing emergency PCI. The trial showed that patients treated with Angiox compared with today's leading treatment - heparin plus a platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor (GPI) - were more likely to survive and had less frequent severe bleeds.
Professeur Ph. Gabriel Steg, from Centre Hôpitalier Bichat in Paris, France said, "The sustained reduction in all-cause and cardiovascular mortality achieved by bivalirudin in the context of primary PCI, compared to the standard of care, provides a compelling case for switching to bivalirudin as the preferred anticoagulant for primary PCI."
Long terms results of the HORIZONS-AMI data have been published recently - including one-year data recently published in The Lancet, and two-year data, recently presented at the 2009 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference, confirm the 30-day mortality benefit showing a significant 38 percent reduction in cardiac mortality at 30 days, which was maintained at 43 percent (at one year) and 41 percent (at two years).
"The HORIZONS-AMI trial confirms the role of Angiox as an alternative anticoagulant strategy to treat patients with acute myocardial infarction undergoing primary PCI. The safety benefit observed with bivalirudin against unfractionated heparin + GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors is a real contribution to interventional cardiology in the contemporary era of evidence based medicine" said professor Gilles Montalescot of the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hôpital, France.
Previous studies have shown an association between reduced major bleeding in angioplasty patients with greater long-term survival. More than 27,000 patients have been studied in clinical trials involving bivalirudin to date. Treatment with Angiox has resulted in less bleeding and similar rates of composite ischaemia compared to heparin plus GPI in patients undergoing angioplasty for stable angina, unstable angina and non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI).
Angiox is a direct thrombin inhibitor with a naturally reversible mechanism of action and 25 minute half-life.
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