Sanofi-Aventis' enoxaparin cuts VTE risk 43%

French drug major Sanofi-Aventis says that data from its large-scale, multinational PREVAIL study showed that acute ischemic stroke patients treated with Clexane/Lovenox (enoxaparin) had a significant 43% lower risk of suffering venous thromboembolism events versus those on unfractionated heparin.

The data, which were presented at the 48th American Society of Hematology annual meeting, held in Orlando, Florida, demonstrated that the relative risk reduction in VTE was associated with a consistent 53% cut in proximal DVT (4.5% vs 9.6%; p=0.0003). In addition, there was no significant difference in clinically-important bleedings (1.3% vs 0.7%, p=0.20), corresponding to the combination of both symptomatic intracranial bleeding, the most serious complication, and major extracranial bleeding. The reduction in VTE risk was also observed in patients presenting with different levels of stroke severity, with no significant difference in clinically-important bleedings, the firm noted.

The French drugmaker noted that, without VTE prophylaxis, up to 75% of patients with hemiplegia following stroke develop deep-vein thrombosis and 20% develop pulmonary embolism.