Aspirin is as 'good as warfarin' for most heart failure patients

[xchrom]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17925581


Aspirin could be as effective as more expensive drugs for heart failure patients with a normal heart rhythm, according to researchers.

Their study on more than 2,000 patients, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, said aspirin was as effective as the commonly prescribed drug warfarin.

It said each drug had risks, but they had similar benefits overall.

However, a UK cardiologist argued the risks from warfarin were less serious.

Heart failure is a major health problem in many parts of the world. It affects 900,000 people in the UK and six million people in the US. A failing heart struggles to pump blood around the body, meaning even trivial tasks become exhausting.

[bemildred]

2. Warfarin is rat poison, it's cheap too.

But maybe pharmaceutical grade is more expensive than aspirin, which is really cheap and OTC. I don't believe you can get warfarin OTC unless you buy it as rat poison.

[Scuba]

3. I believe the patent for warfarin is still held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation....

.... (hence, warfarin), and proceeds go not to profits, but to fund further research.


No doubt pharmaceutical companies are reaping profits.

[Patiod]

4. Oh Jesus Christ Almighty. Not this again.

It's GENERIC. There is NO ONE fighting to keep warfarin around. Companies are falling all over themselves trying to find a replacement that's not as dangerous. Believe me - Big Pharma pays my bills, and if they could kill and bury warfarin forever, they would. No one likes it - not doctors, not patients, not the people who make generic drugs.

[xchrom]

6. +1 my dad had to be on warfarin - his doctor hated it

Dad hated all the trips to the lab.

But when you need it - you need it.

[Warpy]

5. The main problem with warfarin is the need for frequent lab tests

Here in the US, I haven't seen warfarin prescribed for heart failure without dysrhythmias, it's always been aspirin.

That must be a UK thing.

[Patiod]

7. Good point

I was surprised at the concept of warfarin for CHF w/o dysthythmia, too.

Such a dilemma. If you don't take your warfarin, you have an insanely high risk of stroke. If you do take your warfarin, you still have a risk of stroke, just not as high. My mom got her INRs checked carefully, never varied her diet, and died of a massive bleed.

Her cardiologist was distraught, and I told her we understood that if my mom HADN'T been on warfarin, the chances are good that we would have lost her earlier. Ugh. Fucking rat poison. But statistically, you're better off with it than without it.

We need new and better anticoagulation. We have some now, but we need more.