Keywords: USA, FDA, Drug interactions, Clopidogrel, Omeprazole, Sanofi-Aventis, Bristol-Myers

US FDA warns against use of PPI Prilosec with Plavix

Article | 18 November 2009

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The US Food and Drug Administration has notified health care professionals of what it says is new safety information concerning an interaction between clopidogrel (Plavix), an anti-clotting medication, and omeprazole (Prilosec/Prilosec OTC), a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) used to reduce stomach acid. New data show that when clopidogrel and omeprazole are taken together, the effectiveness of clopidogrel is reduced by almost half; the effectiveness of clopidogrel is reduced by 45% with the effect of the drug on platelets reduced by as much as 47%.

Global sales of the antiplatelet agent Plavix, the world’s second biggest selling drug after Pfizer’s cholesterol lowerer Lipitor (atorvastatin), rose 17% last year to $9.5 billion. Enjoying this article? To continue reading you need to login, take a FREE trial or subscribe.