Merck's Aggrastat Disappoints

Merck & Co's fibrinogen receptor antagonist Aggrastat (MK-383) was unable to improve outcomes after coronary angioplasty, when added to standard therapy, in a Phase III trial presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting.

At 30 days after the procedure, Aggrastat combined with heparin and aspirin reduced the combined endpoint of death, nonfatal heart attack and revascularization procedures by 16% compared with aspirin and heparin alone, but this difference failed to reach statistical significance.

Nevertheless, Merck noted that a statistically-significant reduction was observed throughout the first seven days after angioplasty which was encouraging. Final results from this study, as well as results from another trial in unstable angina patients, should be available next year.