Plavix, Heartburn Drugs Safe Together for Some Heart Patients
Some heart patients who are at higher risk of gastrointestinal bleeding should be given Plavix, the world’s second-biggest selling drug, and heartburn medications, despite concerns about using the treatments together, three medical groups said.
The Food and Drug Administration warned patients in November 2009 not to combine Plavix, from New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis SA, with stomach acid-suppressing pills such as London-based AstraZeneca Plc’s Prilosec and Nexium because combining the drugs may reduce the effectiveness of Plavix.
Patients on Plavix who are at high risk of gastrointestinal bleeding should be prescribed the acid-suppressing medications because the benefits outweigh the risks of side effects, the American College of Cardiology Foundation, the American College of Gastroenterology and the American Heart Association said today in a statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: David Olmos in San Francisco at dolmos@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at Rgale5@bloomberg.net
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