Sermo report highlights physician opinions about investigational oral antiplatelet treatment for ACS

Sermo (http://www.sermo.com/client), the world's largest online community for physicians, today announced a free Sermo Report titled, "FDA Committee Recommends Approval for Ticagrelor." The report covers physician opinions about the introduction of an investigational oral antiplatelet treatment for acute coronary syndrome (ACS).  According to the results, 46% of physicians feel that ticagrelor will likely affect the current standard of care, Plavix (clopidogrel), for ACS patients. If approved, 57% of physicians said they could switch up to 20% of their patients to ticagrelor.

The Sermo Report polled 60 physicians, many of who also participated in a discussion about the treatment. Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) incorporates a number of symptoms consistent with the probability that a patient is suffering from active Myocardial Infarction. Competitors to ticagrelor include Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Sanofi-Aventis', Plavix and Effient, sold by Eli Lilly & Company.

"Physicians on Sermo see ticagrelor as significantly impactful to clinicians," said Adam Sharp, Chief Medical Officer at Sermo. "However, cost and time in market could slow adoption. While more research on physician awareness still needs to be done, it's also interesting to note that 50% of docs did not know about the FDA approval before seeing it on Sermo."

Highlights from the report include:

• Cost, time in market and generic Plavix were identified as three issues that could dissuade physicians from writing ticagrelor.
• Reversibility and less post-operative bleeding were identified as possible advantages of this medication over Plavix.

Physicians shared their views of ticagrelor:

"While cost is certainly an issue we deal with all the time (can't wait until Plavix goes generic), there are some advantages with this medication – the biggest being the reversibility. I would be curious to see in the future how cardiac surgeons feel when this drug is in use – will they find that the drug really is reversible and that they find less post-operative bleeding. This would be a clear benefit over Plavix."

--Cardiologist, Sermo physician

"I would wait for a year or two to start prescribing it systematically. This time should be sufficient to elucidate the side-effect profile of the drug."

---Critical Care, Sermo physician

The full Sermo report includes key findings, MD demographics and post analysis.