New Blood Thinner Beats Plavix When Paired With Low-Dose Aspirin

Does the story adequately discuss the costs of the intervention?

Not Satisfactory

No discussion of costs. Ticagrelor isn’t available in the US. But its cost – where available elsewhere – could have been cited. Cost will certainly be an issue if it’s approved because its competitor, clopidogrel, will soon be available in the US as a generic drug.

Does the story adequately quantify the benefits of the treatment/test/product/procedure?

Not Satisfactory

We have a few suggestions here. Most importantly, we think the take-home message of the study was too oversimplified. The headline claims that Brilinta “Beats Plavix When Paired With Low-Dose Aspirin.” In fact, this study was a geographic analysis to explain why Brilinta wasn’t better than Plavix in the US, unlike in other countries, and the lead conclusion was: “The regional interaction could arise from chance alone.” Next, it says that the aspirin dose was “a possible explanation.” In fact, since last year the dose of aspirin has been suggested as a possible explanation for the regional differences in Brilinta’s effects, and that hypothesis has generated controversy. This new study is important to raise our antennae and spur new research, but it wasn’t designed to prove the effect of aspirin.

Of course, the article’s take-home message is the same one that many in the field (including the FDA) may derive from this study. The aspirin finding is most relevant to current practice, both for the use of ticagrelor globally now and perhaps soon in the US. It’s also valuable for thinking about aspirin in this setting in general. However, we think the  context should not be boiled off from the message.

It’s important to keep in mind the limitations of this reported benefit, as we discussed under Evaluate the Quality of Evidence. The details are statistical, such as the weakening of a study’s power by repeatedly slicing and dicing the same data, which is beyond the scope of this article. But we think more of the big picture would have been appropriate. For journalists, the big picture is a question of tone, of conveying the caution urged by the researchers, For doctors, the big picture is that only future randomized trials can investigate whether the pattern observed in this study with aspirin dose is a true effect, a red herring resulting from chance, or a surrogate marker of another factor that’s more important to target.

Additionally, the benefit is quantified as a relative risk reduction. If you’re a regular here, you know how we feel about relative risks vs absolute ones. In absolute terms, the difference between the two drugs was about 2% for heart attack, stroke, and death. 

Does the story seem to grasp the quality of the evidence?

Not Satisfactory

On the pros, it acknowledged that conference research is preliminary until a paper has been published in a peer-reviewed journal. (The paper is now available from the journal Circulation.) It also gave us the follow-up date and measurement for the benefits’ data point.

On the cons, we would have liked more about the underlying PLATO study, such as its design and the number of subjects. We also think the article would have tied a lot of threads together by explaining what this particular analysis by Mahaffey et al actually was. Why was it done? How is it related to the delay in FDA deliberations? Was it all about aspirin? Such information could have ushered in the background that in the PLATO trial, ticagrelor actually wasn’t better than clopidogrel at study sites in the US. In fact that’s thought to be why the FDA has delayed its decision, and this geographic analysis was intended to help settle the issue.

That first step would have been to describe that background and what type of study this was. The next step would have been to evaluate its quality. The investigators themselves offered some helpful critiques in their paper: the study was post hoc and data driven, no adjustments were made for multiple comparisons, this type of exploratory analysis is potentially hazardous, and because of all these limitations the indictment of aspirin dose as the culprit behind reduced ticagrelor efficacy should be considered cautiously.

Please see also our comments under Benefits for further discussion on these lines.

Does the story use independent sources and identify conflicts of interest?

Not Satisfactory

Our biggest bone to pick with the story is its failure to mention that the study was funded by the maker of drug. Keep in mind that Brilinta is going up against Plavix, shortlisted with the best-selling drugs on the planet, and at US sites of PLATO, Plavix “won” (kind of). With FDA approval influenced by the results of this PLATO follow-up, AstraZeneca’s funding was a pretty important conflict of interest to disclose.

One independent source was cited, Dr. Berger. Further sources may have revealed more of the history and controversy in the field. In the discussion at the AHA conference where this new study was announced, at least one panelist said he thought the results were “spurious,” emphasizing the study’s conclusion that the result could have been due to chance.

Does the story establish the availability of the treatment/test/product/procedure?

Not Satisfactory

We would have preferred a different tone that didn’t suggest the drug is “awaiting” what then appears as almost inevitable FDA “approval.” The FDA panel that produced the 7-1 vote is not the panel that decides whether to approve drugs. It’s an advisory panel. The FDA usually follows its recommendations, but it has not decided whether to approve the drug. That colors the caveat that the “approval process is still ongoing” as sounding somewhat perfunctory, like it’s only a matter of time. It would be more balanced to suggest it’s still under review.