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Pink, round, biconvex, engraved with 75 on one side and 1171 on
the other side. For further information please refer to section 5.
The optimal duration of treatment has not been formally
established. Clinical trial data support use up to 12 months, and
the maximum benefit was seen at 3 months (see section 5. For
patients over 75 years of age clopidogrel should be initiated
without a loading dose.
Plavix is a medicine that
contains the active substance clopidogrel. It is available as pink
tablets (round: 75 mg; oblong: 300 mg). Plavix is used in adults
to prevent atherothrombotic events (problems caused by blood clots
and hardening of the arteries). Plavix can be given to the
following groups of patients:patients who have recently had a
myocardial infarction (heart attack). Plavix can be started
between a few days and 35 days after the attack;patients who have
had a recent ischaemic stroke (stroke caused by failure of the
blood supply to part of the brain).
Strokes occurred in
296 (7. Mean peak plasma levels of unchanged clopidogrel
(approximately 2. The binding is nonsaturable in vitro over a wide
concentration range. Clopidogrel is first metabolised to a
2oxoclopidogrel intermediate metabolite. Subsequent metabolism of
the 2oxoclopidogrel intermediate metabolite results in formation
of the active metabolite, a thiol derivative of clopidogrel.
Not all pack sizes may be marketed. Excipients: each filmcoated
tablet contains 12 mg of lactose and 13. Pink, oblong, engraved
with 300 on one side and 1332 on the other side. For patients over
75 years of age clopidogrel, should be initiated without a loading
dose.
In poor metabolisers, active metabolite exposure
was decreased by 6371% compared to extensive metabolisers. When
poor metabolisers received the 600 mg/150 mg regimen, active
metabolite exposure was greater than with the 300 mg/75 mg
regimen. An appropriate dose regimen for this patient population
has not been established in clinical outcome trials. None of these
analyses were adequately sized to detect differences in outcome in
poor metabolisers. In addition, clinical tolerance was good in all
patients.
The active thiol metabolite which has been
isolated in vitro , binds rapidly and irreversibly to platelet
receptors, thus inhibiting platelet aggregation. C max occurs
approximately 30 to 60 minutes after dosing. After a single oral
dose of 75 mg, clopidogrel has a halflife of approximately 6
hours. The elimination halflife of the main circulating (inactive)
metabolite was 8 hours after single and repeated administration. A
patient with poor metaboliser status will possess two
lossoffunction alleles as defined above.
In patients who
remained on therapy within five days of bypass graft surgery, the
event rate was 9. The incidence of major bleeding was similar
between groups. This was consistent across subgroups of patients
defined by baseline characteristics, and type of fibrinolytic or
heparin therapy. Major bleeding was mostly of extracranial origin
in both groups (5. There was no statistically significant
difference in the rates of fatal bleeding (1.
Patients
should be followed carefully for any signs of bleeding including
occult bleeding, especially during the first weeks of treatment
and/or after invasive cardiac procedures or surgery. The
concomitant administration of clopidogrel with oral anticoagulants
is not recommended since it may increase the intensity of
bleedings (see section 4. If a patient is to undergo elective
surgery and antiplatelet effect is temporarily not desirable,
clopidogrel should be discontinued 7 days prior to surgery.
Patients should inform physicians and dentists that they are
taking clopidogrel before any surgery is scheduled and before any
new medicinal product is taken. Clopidogrel prolongs bleeding time
and should be used with caution in patients who have lesions with
a propensity to bleed (particularly gastrointestinal and
intraocular).
Fifteen percent (15. This benefit was
consistent across all prespecified subgroups including patients
age and gender, infarct location, and type of fibrinolytic or
heparin used. The coprimary endpoints were death from any cause
and the first occurrence of reinfarction, stroke or death. The
population included 27. Clopidogrel significantly reduced the
relative risk of death from any cause by 7% (p=0.
It is
characterised by thrombocytopenia and microangiopathic haemolytic
anaemia associated with either neurological findings, renal
dysfunction or fever. The clinical relevance of this interaction
is uncertain. Therefore clopidogrel should be used with caution in
these patients (see section 4. Clopidogrel should therefore be
used with caution in this population (see section 4. This
medicinal product contains hydrogenated castor oil which may cause
stomach upset and diarrhoea.
Apart from the specific
medicinal product interaction information described above,
interaction studies with clopidogrel and some medicinal products
commonly administered in patients with atherothrombotic disease
have not been performed. Animal studies do not indicate direct or
indirect harmful effects with respect to pregnancy,
embryonal/foetal development, parturition or postnatal development
(see section 5. Animal studies have shown excretion of clopidogrel
in breast milk. In addition to clinical studies experience,
adverse reactions have been spontaneously reported. Drugs plavix
is the most common reaction reported both in clinical studies as
well as in postmarketing experience where it was mostly reported
during the first month of treatment.
Combined therapy
should be started as early as possible after symptoms start and
continued for at least four weeks. In patients with atrial
fibrillation, clopidogrel should be given as a drugs plavix
daily dose of 75 mg. For more than 12 hours: patients should take
the next dose at the regular scheduled time and should not double
the dose. Severe hepatic impairment. Active pathological bleeding
such as peptic ulcer or intracranial haemorrhage.
There
was also a reduction in the patients who had a stent inserted.
Plavix should not be used in people who may be hypersensitive
(allergic) to clopidogrel or any of the other ingredients. It must
not be used in patients who have severe liver disease or a disease
that may cause bleeding. Excipients: each filmcoated tablet
contains 3 mg of lactose and 3. For a full list of excipients, see
section 6.
These results indicate that clopidogrel can
be administered with pantoprazole. No clinically significant
pharmacodynamic interactions were observed when clopidogrel was
coadministered with atenolol, nifedipine, or both atenolol and
nifedipine. Furthermore, the pharmacodynamic activity of
clopidogrel was not significantly influenced by the
coadministration of phenobarbital or oestrogen. The
pharmacokinetics of digoxin or theophylline were not modified by
the coadministration of clopidogrel. Antacids did not modify the
extent of clopidogrel absorption.
Clopidogrel has been
tested in a range of in vitro and in vivo genotoxicity studies,
and showed no genotoxic activity. Clopidogrel was found to have no
effect on the fertility of male and female rats and was not
teratogenic in either rats or rabbits. When given to lactating
rats, clopidogrel caused a slight delay in the development of the
offspring. Specific pharmacokinetic studies performed with
radiolabelled clopidogrel have shown that the parent compound or
its metabolites are excreted in the milk. In all aluminium drugs
plavix, this medicinal product does not require any special
storage conditions.
The mean bleeding time prolongation
was also similar in the two groups. These occurred at doses
representing at least 25 times the exposure seen in humans
receiving the clinical dose of 75 mg/day and were a consequence of
an effect on hepatic metabolising enzymes. No effect on hepatic
metabolising enzymes was observed in humans receiving clopidogrel
at the therapeutic dose. At very high doses, a poor gastric
tolerability (gastritis, gastric erosions and/or vomiting) of
clopidogrel was also reported in rat and baboon. There was no
evidence of carcinogenic effect when clopidogrel was administered
for 78 weeks to mice and 104 weeks to rats when given at doses up
to 77 mg/kg per day (representing at least 25 times the exposure
seen in humans receiving the clinical dose of 75 mg/day).
Adverse reactions that occurred either during clinical studies or
that were spontaneously reported are presented in the table below.
Within each system organ class, adverse reactions are presented in
order of decreasing seriousness. Appropriate therapy should be
considered if bleedings are observed. No antidote to the
pharmacological activity of clopidogrel has been found. If prompt
correction of prolonged bleeding time is required, platelet
transfusion may reverse the effects of clopidogrel.
Clopidogrel is a prodrug, one of whose metabolites is an inhibitor
of platelet aggregation. Due to the irreversible binding,
platelets exposed are affected for the remainder of their lifespan
(approximately 710 days) and recovery of normal platelet function
occurs at a rate consistent with platelet turnover. At steady
state, the average inhibition level observed with a dose of 75 mg
per day was between 40% and 60%. Platelet aggregation and bleeding
time gradually returned to baseline values, generally within 5
days after treatment was discontinued. Analysis of total mortality
as a secondary endpoint did not show any significant difference
between clopidogrel (5.
This stops the platelets
becoming sticky, reducing the risk of a blood clot forming and
helping to prevent another heart attack or stroke. The main
measure of effectiveness was how many patients experienced a new
ischaemic event (heart attack, ischaemic stroke or death) over one
to three years. In the studies of acute coronary syndrome, all of
the patients also took aspirin and the main measure of
effectiveness was the number of patients who experienced an event
such as a blocked artery, another heart attack or death during the
study. Plavix was more effective than aspirin at preventing new
ischaemic events. This corresponds to a relative reduction in risk
of 9% compared with aspirin.
In addition, a subgroup
analysis by age suggested that the benefit of clopidogrel in
patients over 75 years was less than that observed in patients 75
years. Patients were treated for up to one year. Heparins were
administered in more than 90% of the patients and the relative
rate of bleeding between clopidogrel and placebo was not
significantly affected by the concomitant heparin therapy. There
was no observed effect on the rate of rehospitalisation for
unstable angina. The results obtained in populations with
different characteristics (e.
A pharmacodynamic
interaction between clopidogrel and acetylsalicylic acid is
possible, leading to increased risk of bleeding. Therefore,
concomitant use should be undertaken with caution (see section 4.
Heparin : in a clinical study conducted in healthy subjects,
clopidogrel did not necessitate modification of the heparin dose
or alter the effect of heparin on coagulation. Coadministration of
heparin had no effect on the inhibition of platelet aggregation
induced by clopidogrel. A pharmacodynamic interaction between
clopidogrel and heparin is possible, leading to increased risk of
bleeding.
Thrombolytics : the safety of the concomitant
administration of clopidogrel, fibrin or nonfibrin specific
thrombolytic agents and heparins was assessed in patients with
acute myocardial infarction. The decrease was associated with a
39% (loading dose) and 21% (maintenance dose) reduction of
inhibition of platelet aggregation. Esomeprazole is expected to
give a similar interaction with clopidogrel. As a precaution,
concomitant use of omeprazole or esomeprazole should be
discouraged (see section 4. Less pronounced reductions of
metabolite exposure has been observed with pantoprazole or
lansoprazole.
Moreover, the safety profile of
clopidogrel in this subgroup of patients did not raise any
particular concern. Thus, the results from this subset are in line
with the overall trial results. The patients were followed for 30
days. The patient population included 19. A total of 99.
This benefit was consistent across age, gender and with or without
fibrinolytics, and was observed as early as 24 hours. Patients
were treated for up to 5 years. The patient population included
41. The mean age was 71 years, 41. A total of 23.
The
medicine can only be obtained with a prescription. Plavix is
converted into its active form in the body. The best dose to use
in these patients has not yet been determined. This means that it
helps to prevent blood clots from forming. When the blood clots,
this is due to special cells in the blood called platelets
aggregating (sticking together).
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