Despite being third to market, a new bloodthinner from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY - News) and Pfizer (PFE - News) may become the biggest seller in an emerging multibillion-dollar class of drugs for preventing strokes in heart patients. Eliquis, or apixaban, is set to steal the limelight at Europe’s top medical meeting next week -- and if the data are as strong as many industry analysts expect, sales forecasts for the medicine are likely to jump. Excitement over Eliquis has been growing since June when headline results showed it was better and safer than the decades-old warfarin in preventing strokes in patients with dangerously irregular heart rhythms.
