AstraZeneca’s Brilique receives new European approval for heart attack

AstraZeneca has announced that its drug Brilique has been approved in Europe in a new indication.

The therapy has been approved at a new 60 mg dose for the treatment of patients who have suffered a heart attack at least one year prior and are at high risk of developing a further atherothrombotic event.

This decision was based on the positive safety and efficacy data from the PEGASUS TIMI-54 study, a large-scale outcomes trial involving more than 21,000 patients, which showed that Brilique was able to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction or stroke compared to placebo.

Brilique is already approved in Europe for the prevention of atherothrombotic events in adults with acute coronary syndrome.

Sean Bohen, executive vice-president for global medicines development and chief medical officer at AstraZeneca, said: "We are committed to finding new treatment solutions for these patients who remain at risk, and today's approval is an important step forward in meeting this need."

This comes after the firm received EU approval for Zurampic, a new adjunctive treatment for hyperuricaemia in adult gout patients, earlier this month.