AstraZeneca's Brilinta protects against adverse cardiovascular events for up to 5 years, new data reveals

AstraZeneca has revealed new data supporting the long-term use and efficacy of its cardiovascular drug Brilinta (ticagrelor), showing that the treatment proved able to provide continued and consistent protection from major adverse cardiovascular events such as myocardial infarction (MI) for as much as five years, despite the risk of such events remaining high throughout this time.

The PEGASUS-TIMI 54 study examined 21,162 patients at yearly intervals and found that, on a twice daily dosing of 60mg ticagrelor plus aspirin, the treatment’s protective effect remained consistent in preventing repeat major CV events including heart attack, stroke or CV death.

Additionally, it was found that the drug provided the greatest benefit to those patients who started treatment within two years of an MI, demonstrating a 32% risk reduction of CV death in this group. These findings are in line with a sub-analysis of the trial data presente3d at the annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology which found a 29% risk reduction in CV death.

“This analysis demonstrates that the efficacy of ticagrelor was maintained over the duration of the trial, providing most benefit in patients who commenced the trial less than two years after a heart attack,” explained Robert Storey, Professor and Honorary Consultant in Cardiology at the University of Sheffield, UK, and member of the Steering Committee of the trial. “These new insights are important, showing that the effectiveness of ticagrelor did not lessen over three years of treatment. This supports the benefit of continuing ticagrelor at a dose of 60mg for patients who tolerate ticagrelor 90mg for the first 12 months after MI.”

Matt Fellows