Data support apixaban for cancer-associated VTE, doc says

• Be concerned about excessive bruising
• Find anticoagulant treatment a burden or difficult to carry out
• Say anticoagulant treatment added stress to their lives, negatively impacted their quality of life, or caused them “a great deal” of worry, irritation, or frustration.

However, apixaban-treated patients were also less likely than dalteparin recipients to have confidence that their drug protected them from VTE recurrence.

Still, the apixaban recipients were more likely than the dalteparin group to report overall satisfaction with their treatment.

In addition, premature treatment discontinuation was more common in the dalteparin group than in the apixaban group—15% and 4%, respectively (P=0.0012).

“Apixaban was well tolerated with superior patient safety satisfaction as well as significantly fewer study drug discontinuations compared to dalteparin,” Dr. McBane said. “I believe that these data support the use of apixaban for the acute treatment of cancer-associated venous thromboembolism.”

This study was funded by BMS/Pfizer Alliance. Dr. McBane declared no other conflicts of interest.

*Data in the presentation differ from the abstract.