The clinical and economic impact of bivalirudin for percutaneous coronary intervention

Abstract

Bivalirudin (BVR) is a direct thrombin inhibitor used as an adjunctive antithrombotic agent in combination with aspirin and an ADP-receptor blocker in patients with acute coronary syndrome undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. When compared to a strategy of heparin plus a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor, BVR has been shown in a number of randomized clinical trials to be at least as effective at reducing ischemic endpoints and to have a consistently lower rate of bleeding complications. In addition, various economic analyses have shown it to be cost-effective compared to heparin plus a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor and this, coupled with its proven clinical efficacy, has led to the incorporation of BVR into both EU and US clinical guidelines. Previous studies with BVR have mostly assessed its use in patients treated with aspirin and clopidogrel and further studies are ongoing to determine its role in combination with newer, more potent oral antiplatelet agents.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01519518.