Re: new anticoagulation drug in trials?

January 6, 2006

LJ,

I am not sure this Dr. Waldo knows what he is talking about.

1. " ...says an accompanying editorial by Dr. Albert L. Waldo, a

professor of cardiology and medicine at Case Western Reserve

University. One major reason is that warfarin is an extremely

difficult drug to manage, he says, because it interacts not only with

many other medicines but also with many foods. People who take

warfarin can't drink alcohol or eat broccoli, lettuce or other green,

leafy vegetables, among other restrictions. "

That is NOT TRUE. Most doctors advise to eat all the green veggies

you want --- just keep it constant and adjust the warfarin dose,

2. " One reason for those reservations is that any patient taking

warfarin must have a blood test every two or three weeks to be sure

that the blood-thinning level is low enough to avoid clotting but not

so low as to cause dangerous bleeding, Waldo notes. "

Exactly the REVERSE. They measure to ensure the level is HIGH enough

to avoid clotting.

3. " But there is hope that a new blood thinner now in advanced

clinical trials could remove most of those complicating factors,

Waldo says. The medication, Exanta, being developed by the

AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company, is being used in several large-

scale trials involving thousands of patients. Initial reports of

those trials have been extremely encouraging, and there is hope that

the drug will be put on a fast track for approval by the U.S. Food

and Drug Administration to make it available by the end of next year,

Waldo says. "

I was of the opinion that FDA had PREVENTED any US trials of Exanta

in US due to liver toxicity?

Sounds like Dr. Waldo needs to " find himself " .

, Charlotte NC

>

> Stroke Risk Eyed in Those With Bad Heart RhythmThursday January 05,

2006 (1340 PST)

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