AstraZeneca today announced that ticagrelor, an oral antiplatelet
medicine, received a Class I recommendation from the European Society of
Cardiology (ESC) in the revised "Guidelines on the Management of Acute
Myocardial Infarction in Patients Presenting with Persistent ST-Segment
Elevation (STEMI)" guidelines. Ticagrelor is known as BRILIQUE in the
European Union and BRILINTA elsewhere.
For primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), the guidelines now
recommend ticagrelor with no restrictions for STEMI patients (Class I;
LOE B). Prasugrel, (Class I; LOE B), is recommended only for
clopidogrel-naïve patients with no prior history of stroke/TIA and aged
<75 years. Clopidogrel is recommended when prasugrel or ticagrelor are
either not available or contraindicated. All of these recommendations
are in combination with aspirin.
Ticagrelor plus aspirin, or prasugrel plus aspirin, are recommended
(over clopidogrel plus aspirin) in patients treated with PCI (Class I:
LOE A). Treatment with ticagrelor is recommended for up to 12 months. In
addition, the guidelines recommend antiplatelet therapy with low dose
aspirin after STEMI indefinitely.
With this addition, ticagrelor is now recognised as a standard therapy
for acute coronary syndromes (ACS) patients within a total of ten sets
of US and global guidelines, including the ESC's 2011
Guidelines for the Management of Acute Coronary Syndromes in Patients
Presenting without Persistent ST-Segment Elevation and 2010
Guidelines for Myocardial Revascularisation.
"The inclusion of ticagrelor in the ESC STEMI guidelines is recognition
by the medical community of the established role of BRILINTA in
contemporary standard-of-care ACS management. These guideline updates
underscore a growing acceptance amongst the medical community of the
benefits of ticagrelor (plus low dose aspirin) for a broad range of ACS
patients," said Dr. James Ferguson, VP Global Medical Affairs, CV,
AstraZeneca. "The recommendation from the ESC is another important step
toward improving access for ACS patients to ticagrelor in Europe, where
ACS affects an estimated 1.4 million people every year - more than all
cancers combined."