Bristol Myers Squibb Charisma trial rejects dual therapy

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) has announced that findings from a recent enquiry have revealed that Plavix, when combined with aspirin, does not prevent heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular death.

The Clopidogrel for High Atherothrombotic Risk and Ischemic Stabilisation, Management and Avoidance (Charisma) trial found that the use of Plavix (of which clopidogrel is an ingredient) alongside aspirin had no greater effect than using a placebo with aspirin.

Tests in the trial also found that the effects of the dual treatment were different for patients with different symptoms or problems.

For those patients with established atherothrombotic disease, or secondary prevention, the dual treatment of Plavix and aspirin reduced the risk of a recurrent heart attack, stroke or cardiovascular death by 12.5 per cent compared to those with a placebo and aspirin.

However, for those patients that did not have established vascular disease, but did have multiple risk factors, the Plavix-aspirin combination was no more effective than a placebo and aspirin.

In this second group, BMS said there was “an excess in cardiovascular mortality as well as a non-statistically significant increase in bleeding observed”.

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