DuPont Merck's Coumadin

Executive Summary

Anticoagulant warfarin receives additional indication for prevention and treatment of thromboembolic complications associated with cardiac valve replacements. Coumadin is already widely used for preventing blood clots in patients with artificial heart valves, the company notes April 25; published data indicate that long-term Coumadin therapy reduces the number of thromboembolic events in patients with heart valve replacements to less than 3%, compared to 22% in untreated patients. FDA granted the supplemental approval March 31