Clopidogrel Tops Aspirin For Atherosclerotic Disease

The new antiplatelet drug clopidogrel, discovered by Sanofi and now in development in collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb, offers greater efficacy than aspirin in the treatment of patients with atherothrombotic disease, according to newly-released data from the CAPRIE study.

Clopidogrel was found to be more effective in reducing the likelihood of the primary endpoint of the study, a cluster of ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction or vascular death, in patients who had suffered a previous stroke, MI or peripheral artery disease presenting as claudication. The drug was also found to be at least as tolerable as aspirin.

CAPRIE (Clopidogrel versus Aspirin in Patients at Risk of Ischemic Event) differs from previous studies of antiplatelet drugs because it makes the assumption that there is an underlying process, atherosclerosis complicated with thrombosis, behind the three patient groups enrolled.