Daiichi/Lilly's Efient gets first world launch in UK - first new antiplatelet drug in a decade

Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo and US drug major Eli Lilly's Efient (prasugrel) will have its first launch in the UK, after the potential  blockbuster anti-clotting drug was approved in Europe last month  (Marketletter March 2).

Prasugrel is the first new oral antiplatelet drug to be licensed in the  UK for more than a decade. The drug will be used for the prevention of  atherothrombotic events in patients with acute coronary syndrome  undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

Commenting on the launch, Marcus Flather, a consultant cardiologist at  the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, UK, said: "prasugrel is a welcome  breakthrough as it builds on existing treatments by further reducing the  risk of heart attacks and death in patients who have had a heart attack  and an angioplasty procedure."