Authors: Marc Cohen Walter P Jeske Jose C Nicolau Gilles Montalescot Jawed Fareed
Publish Date: 2012/01/11
Volume: 33, Issue: 3, Pages: 230-238
Abstract
Lowmolecularweight heparins LMWHs have shown equivalent or superior efficacy and safety to unfractionated heparin as antithrombotic therapy for patients with acute coronary syndromes Each approved LMWH is a pleotropic biological agent with a unique chemical biochemical biophysical and biological profile and displays different pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic profiles As a result LMWHs are neither equipotent in preclinical assays nor equivalent in terms of their clinical efficacy and safety Previously the US Food and Drug Administration FDA cautioned against using various LMWHs interchangeably however recently the FDA approved generic versions of LMWH that have not been tested in large clinical trials This paper highlights the biochemical and pharmacological differences between the LMWH preparations that may result in different clinical outcomes and also reviews the implications and challenges physicians face when generic versions of the original/innovator agents are approved for clinical useDr Cohen has received/receives grant/research support from Sanofi Johnson Johnson and BristolMyers Squibb Served as a consultant to Datascope now Maquet Merck and SanofiAventis member of the speaker bureau for Sanofi Merck and BristolMeyers Squibb Boehringer Ingelheim AstraZeneca and Janssen Dr Jeske has received honoraria from Sanofi Dr Nicolau has research grant funding and/or honoraria from AstraZeneca Bayer Daiichi Sankyo Eli Lilly Co Johnson Johnson GlaxoSmithKline Merck and Pfizer Served as a consultant/advisory board member for AstraZeneca Sanofi and Merck Dr Montalescot has received grant and research support from Sanofi Eli Lilly Co and Guerbet received honoraria from SanofiAventis Eli Lilly Co GlaxoSmithKline Merck The Medicine’s Company and Pfizer and served on advisory boards for SanofiAventis Eli Lilly Co GlaxoSmithKline Merck The Medicine’s Company and Schering Plough Dr Fareed has received honoraria from Sanofi
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