Tirofiban Cuts Mortality In Unstable Angina Patients

Merck & Co's glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor Aggrastat (tirofiban) cutthe risk of death, heart attack and refractory ischemia by over a third in patients suffering from unstable angina and non-Q-wave myocardial infarction, according to the results of studies presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Anaheim.

More than 3,200 patients were enrolled into the PRISM (platelet receptor inhibition for ischemic syndrome management) study, the results of which were presented at the ACC by Harvey White of Green Lane Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. All patients in the study had reported increasing symptoms of angina in the 24 hours before enrollment, and had either ischemic changes diagnosed using an electrocardiogram or a documented history of coronary artery disease.

First Comparison Of gpIIb/IIIa Blocker vs Heparin The patients were randomly assigned to receive either heparin or a 48-hour infusion of tirofiban. This is the first and only large-scale study to compare a gpIIb/IIIa blocker without heparin to heparin alone in patients with unstable angina, according to Merck.