New anti-clotting pill looks promising

The anti-clotting drug rivaroxaban may be the first new oral agent for blood thinners in 60 years, Dr. Richard J. Friedman, a Roper St. Francis orthopedic surgeon, said.

Friedman participated in one of the international trials sponsored by Bayer, which plans to market the drug as Xarelto.

In trials, the pill was more effective at reducing the rate of blood clots following hip and knee replacement surgeries than the current standard of treatment, low-molecular heparin. The pill is also easier to take than the injectable low-molecular heparin. Both drugs had a similar risk of major bleeding.

West Ashley resident Wendy Williams, 56, had terrible hip pain while walking because of a congenital condition in which the ball never sat properly in the socket, she said. She had one hip replaced in 2006 and the other in 2007.

She participated in the drug trial for both surgeries. All patients took pills and gave themselves shots, because neither the doctor nor the patient knew which drug was administered.

"The pills were much, much easier than getting shots in the stomach," Williams said.

More than 700,000 hip and knee replacement surgeries are performed annually in the U.S., and that number will continue to grow as baby boomers age, Friedman said.

Read more in tomorrow's editions of The Post and Courier.