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news.A trial by Nuvelo has shown that its anticoagulant protein, rNAPc2, reduces the incidence of ischemia in patients with acute coronary syndrome by more than 50%.
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This could be vital for the treatment of ACS because currently approved drugs do not target the proximal stages of the coagulation process.
The reduction of ischemia occurred when rNAPc2 was combined with antithrombotics and an early invasive approach for acute coronary syndromes. The reduction also occurred without any increase in bleeding. rNAPc2 was also shown to be able to reduce ischemia even in the absence of heparin and enoxaparin.
Ischemia occurs when blood flow to the heart is restricted when an atherosclerotic plaque ruptures in a coronary artery, causing blood clots that can result in heart attacks. ACS accounts for more than one million hospitalizations annually in the US. rNAPc2 inhibits coagulation of the blood that can lead to these clots.
These proof-of-concept data warrant larger-scale evaluation to determine if rNAPc2 improves clinical outcomes in NSTE-ACS patients,” said Dr Robert Giugliano assistant professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School.
The data was presented by Dr Robert Giugliano at the World Congress of Cardiology 2006 in Barcelona.