Bayer and J&J overplayed their hand in a press release, claiming a bigger difference versus warfarin than had been proved. But the important point is that its success paves the way for other players. A whole bunch of these new blood thinners are in development, including apixiban from Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb, edoxaban from Daiichi Sankyo, and betrixiban from Merck. It’s possible they all make it. A huge number of patients either are on warfarin or should be but won’t take it because it is such a difficult drug to be on. This is a lucrative, mass-market opportunity for drug companies. It will keep the people who run cardiology clinical trials quite busy.
Next up, expect these companies to market like it’s 1999. Even before a panel of Food and Drug Administration experts met to look at Pradaxa, Boehringer was pitching reporters on a meeting with soap actress Susan Lucci and her husband, who has atrial fibrillation; a video of Lucci and her husband talking about a fib is embedded in this post
