Challenging the FDA black box warning for high aspirin dose with ticagrelor in patients with diabetes

Diabetes. 2013 Mar;62(3):669-71. doi: 10.2337/db12-0746.

Abstract

Ticagrelor, a novel reversible antiplatelet agent, has a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) black box warning to avoid maintenance doses of aspirin (ASA) >100 mg/daily. This restriction is based on the hypothesis that ASA doses >100 mg somehow decreased ticagrelor's benefit in the Platelet Inhibition and Patient Outcomes (PLATO) U.S. cohort. However, these data are highly postrandomized, come from a very small subgroup in PLATO (57% of patients in the U.S. site), and make no biological sense. Moreover, the ticagrelor-ASA interaction was not significant by any multivariate Cox regression analyses. The Complete Response Review for ticagrelor indicates that for U.S. PLATO patients, an ASA dose >300 mg was not a significant interaction for vascular outcomes. In the ticagrelor-ASA >300 mg cohort, all-cause and vascular mortality were not significantly increased (hazard ratio [HR] 1.27 [95% CI 0.84-1.93], P = 0.262 and 1.39 [0.87-2.2], P = 0.170), respectively. Furthermore, for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), 30-day all-cause mortality, and 30-day vascular mortality, the strongest interaction is the diabetes-ASA interaction. That is, patients who had diabetes had significantly fewer MACEs through study end (0.49 [0.34-0.63], P < 0.0001), significantly less 30-day all-cause mortality (0.33 [0.20-0.56], P < 0.0001), and significantly less 30-day vascular mortality (0.35 [0.22-0.55], P < 0.0001), respectively, when given high-dose (300-325 mg) ASA, regardless of treatment (clopidogrel or ticagrelor) assignment. The black box warning for the use of maintenance ASA doses >100 mg with ticagrelor is inappropriate for patients with diabetes and not evidence based.

MeSH terms

  • Adenosine / adverse effects
  • Adenosine / analogs & derivatives*
  • Adenosine / therapeutic use
  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / administration & dosage
  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / adverse effects*
  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / therapeutic use
  • Aspirin / administration & dosage
  • Aspirin / adverse effects*
  • Aspirin / therapeutic use
  • Cardiovascular Abnormalities / chemically induced
  • Cardiovascular Abnormalities / etiology
  • Cardiovascular Abnormalities / prevention & control
  • Diabetes Mellitus / metabolism*
  • Diabetes Mellitus / mortality
  • Diabetes Mellitus / physiopathology
  • Drug Interactions
  • Drug Labeling*
  • Evidence-Based Medicine
  • Humans
  • Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors / adverse effects*
  • Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors / therapeutic use
  • Ticagrelor
  • United States
  • United States Food and Drug Administration

Substances

  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal
  • Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors
  • Ticagrelor
  • Adenosine
  • Aspirin