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Antibody halts effect of dabigatran

Antibody halts effect of dabigatran

The monoclonal antibody idarucizumab is able to counteract the effect of the non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant dabigatran in the majority of patients. That is the conclusion of a recent publication in The New England Journal of Medicine. These results imply that the irreversibility of effect of dabigatran is now no longer an issue. 

The fact that the effect of dabigatran could not be halted becomes a problem when a patient taking this anticoagulant needs to undergo an emergency surgery of or suffers from a sudden haemorrhage. Idarucizumab was developed in the hope of using this antibody to counteract dabigatran’s effect. Willem Kamphuisen, an internist at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), was part of the research group that tested this hypothesis in a prospective study including 90 patients using dabigatran. The study was funded by Boehringer Ingelheim. 

These patients were given five milligrams of idarucizumab intravenously when they were admitted for emergency surgery of or suffering from acute haemorrhage. Idarucizumab was able to counteract the effect of dabigatran in 88 to 98 percent of these patients. The effect was apparent after several minutes. This quick response was not the only good news. “There were no other disadvantageous effects such as extra blood clotting or thrombosis”, says Kamphuizen.  

The next stage in the investigation will be testing the antibody in a prospective study including another three hundred patients. A part of this global research will be carried out in the UMCG. It’s impossible to predict when suitable patients will present themselves, so it remains uncertain when the results will be published.  

Sources: NEJM and UMCG

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