ORLANDO, Fla. — People recovering from a heart attack or severe chest pain are much less likely to suffer another heart-related problem or to die from one if they take a new blood-thinning drug along with standard anti-clotting medicines, a large study finds.
But this benefit has a cost: a greater risk of serious bleeding, usually in the digestive tract. Still, some doctors said the drug, Xarelto, could become a new standard of care for up to a million Americans hospitalized each year for these conditions. A low dose of the drug substantially cut the risk of dying of any cause during the study.
The study was discussed Sunday at an American Heart Association conference and published online by the New England Journal of Medicine. It was sponsored by the drug’s makers — Johnson & Johnson and Bayer Healthcare — and some researchers work or consult for the companies. The Associated Press
