A new drug designed to prevent blood clots can significantly reduce the risk of death by heart attack when used alongside aspirin, a study published on Saturday in The Lancet says. A team led by Chen Zhengming, a Chinese doctor based with the University of Oxford in Britain, recruited more than 45,800 patients who had been admitted to Chinese hospitals after suffering a heart attack.The volunteers were randomly divided into two groups. One group was given daily doses of the drug clopidogrel with aspirin, while the other group was given aspirin and a placebo -- a harmless tablet.Their health was monitored until they were discharged or had spent up to four weeks in hospital.In the clopidogrel group, the number of repeat heart attacks during the monitoring period was 14 percent less than in the aspirin-only group, and mortality from repeat heart attacks and strokes was nine percent lower.The treatment was safe, and there was notably no apparent increase in severe bleeding.Clopidogrel -- brand name Plavix -- is one of a class of medications called antiplatelet drugs. It stops platelets, the forerunners of blood clots, from clustering together.
