Xarelto use expanded

The US Food and Drug Administration recently expanded the approved use of Xarelto (rivaroxaban) to include treating deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE), and to reduce the risk of recurrent DVT and PE following initial treatment.

Blood clots occur when blood thickens and clumps together. DVT is a blood clot that forms in a vein deep in the body. Most deepvein blood clots occur in the lower leg or thigh. When a blood clot in a deep vein breaks off and travels to an artery in the lungs and blocks blood flow, it results in a potentially deadly condition called PE.

Xarelto is already FDA approved to reduce the risk of DVTs and PEs from occurring after knee or hip-replacement surgery (July 2011), and to reduce the risk of stroke in people who have a type of abnormal heart rhythm called non-valvular atrial fibrillation (November 2011).

The FDA reviewed Xarelto’s new indication under the agency’s priority review programme, which provides an expedited sixmonth review for drugs that offer major advances in treatment or that provide treatment when no adequate therapy exists.

Source: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration