Pharmaceuticals

This channel includes news and new technology innovations for cardiovascular pharmaceutics. This includes antiplatelet agents, anticoagulation drugs, INR testing, NOAC, OAC, IV administered drugs such as Heprin, and dual antiplatelet therapy.

Thrombus formation in the aortic arch in a 46-year-old COVID patients in the ICU. Three trials are underway to find which anticoagulant strategy is best to treat moderate and critically ill patients where COVID-causes venous thrombo-embolism (VTE) is a major cause of complications. Image courtesy of Margarita Revzin et al.

Feature | Coronavirus (COVID-19)

NIH Pauses Anticoagulant Trial For Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients

December 23, 2020 — Three clinical trial platforms working together to test the effects of full doses of anticoagulants ...

December 23, 2020

The FDA December 18 issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for a second COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna for use in individuals 18 years of age and older. #COVID19 #SARSCoV2 #Vaccine

News | Coronavirus (COVID-19)

FDA Approved Second COVID-19 Vaccine From Moderna

December 23, 2020 — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration December 18 issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for a ...

December 23, 2020

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued the first emergency use authorization (EUA) Dec, 12 for the COVID-19 vaccine submitted by Pfizer Inc. in partnership with BioNTech Manufacturing GmbH. It is the first mRNA vaccine to gain an FDA clearance and the first COVID vaccine to gain FDA clearance. #COVID #COVID19 #SARSCoV2 #vaccine #COVIDVaccine

Feature | Coronavirus (COVID-19) | Dave Fornell, Editor

FDA Clears First COVID-19 Vaccine Under an Emergency Use Authorization

December 14, 2020 — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued the first emergency use authorization (EUA) for ...

December 14, 2020

RIVER trial is the largest study assessing the efficacy and safety of the anticoagulant rivaroxaban in patients with an artificial mitral valve to correct an irregular heart rhythm

News

Rivaroxaban is Comparable to Warfarin for Bioprosthetic Mitral Valves and AF

November 18, 2020 — The primary results from the RIVER Trial, Rivaroxaban for Valvular Heart disease and Atrial ...

November 18, 2020

Omega-3 fish oil supplements did not help patients after a heart attack in AHA 2020 study. #AHA #AHA20 #AHA2020. Getty Images

News | Pharmaceuticals

Omega-3s Do Not Reduce Cardiac Events in Recent Heart Attack Survivors

November 17, 2020 — A daily dose of omega-3 fatty acids did not reduce the risk of cardiac events, including secondary ...

November 17, 2020

Among high-risk, chronic, coronary patients who undergo angioplasty, there were no additional benefits from ticagrelor compared to the current standard of care clopidogrel. #AHA #AHA20 #AHA2020

News | Cath Lab

Ticagrelor Not Superior to Clopidogrel in Reducing Heart Attacks During PCI

November 16, 2020 — The use of the more potent antiplatelet medication ticagrelor (Brilinta) was not superior to ...

November 16, 2020

The AHA 2020 late-breaking SAMSON Trial found side effects reported from statins are real, but appear due to the psychological rather than the pharmacological effects of the cholesterol lowering drugs. #AHA20 #AHA2020

News | Pharmaceuticals

Side Effects Attributed to Statins Same for Those Taking a Placebo

November 16, 2020 — Among patients who stopped taking their cholesterol-lowering statin medication due to side effects ...

November 16, 2020

News | Pharmaceuticals

New Novartis Data for Inclisiran Shows Effective and Sustained LDL-C Reduction at 17 Regardless of Age or Gender

November 16, 2020 — Novartis announced results from two pooled post-hoc analyses of Phase III ORION-9, -10 and -11 ...

November 16, 2020

NIH trial, the Outcomes Related to COVID-19 treated with Hydroxychloroquine among Inpatients with symptomatic Disease (ORCHID), showed no difference in deaths between placebo and hydroxychloroquine. Getty Images

News | Coronavirus (COVID-19) | Dave Fornell, Editor

Hydroxychloroquine Does Not Help Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients

November 9, 2020 — A National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical trial evaluating the safety and effectiveness of hydro ...

November 09, 2020

Feature | AHA | Dave Fornell, Editor

American Heart Association 2020 Late-breaking Trial Presentations

Here is a list of the American Heart Association (AHA) late-breaking clinical trial presentations at the 2020 Virtual ...

November 20, 2020

Some of the device technologies discussed in the TCT 2020 late-breaking trial sessions. Top left, the Medtronic Resolute Onyx stent was the first stent to receive FDA clearance for short duration dual-antiplatelet therapy, which was a big topic and subject of several sessions. Lower left, the Keystone TriGuard 3 TAVR embolic protection device did not demonstrate superiority over TAVR without use of embolic protection. Top right, the Abbott MitraClip. Acurate neo TAVR valve. #TCTconnect #TCT2020

Feature | TCT | Dave Fornell, Editor

Top 10 Takeaways on Interventional Technologies at TCT 2020

Here are some of the key takeaways from the late-breaking interventional cardiology and structural heart trials ...

October 29, 2020

The Watchman FLX will be tested in the CHAMPION-AF trial looks at next-generation transcatheter LAA device as treatment alternative to NOACs for broader population of patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation.

News | Atrial Fibrillation

Boston Scientific Initiates Trial to Evaluate Watchman FLX LAA Closure Device as First-Line Treatment

Oct. 29, 2020 — Boston Scientific initiated the CHAMPION-AF clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the ...

October 29, 2020

Videos | Antiplatelet and Anticoagulation Therapies

VIDEO: Crushing Prasugrel Tablets Does Not Help STEMI Patients

The COMPARE CRUSH Trial looked at the effect of per-hospital crushed prasugrel tablets in patients with STEMI planned ...

October 19, 2020

Videos | Antiplatelet and Anticoagulation Therapies

VIDEO: Use of Shorten DAPT and the Xience Stent in High-bleeding Risk Patients

Roxana Mehran, M.D., and Marco Valgimiggle, M.D., present the results of the Xience 90/28 trials that evaluated the use ...

October 19, 2020

Videos | Antiplatelet and Anticoagulation Therapies

VIDEO: Bivalirudin vs. Heparin in Acute Myocardial Infarction Patients

Gregg Stone, M.D., presents the results of a pooled analysis of randomized trials of bivalirudin virus heparin in acute ...

October 17, 2020