Study awarded £5m for check on heart drugs

Around 3,000 patients across the UK will take part in the project co-ordinated by Hull University’s department of cardiology to compare the strengths of drugs clopidogrel and aspirin in preventing heart attacks and strokes.

Both drugs inhibit blood clotting but whether one is better than the other is unknown.

Health watchdogs in the UK recommend aspirin but other international guidelines raise concerns about the drug amid fears it could reduce the effectiveness of other treatments including medicines known as ACE inhibitors – used in treating a range of disorders.

Patients will be assessed for their suitability for the study before being prescribed one of the drugs by their family doctor.

Every two months the patient will be asked to report on how they are feeling, the severity of their symptoms and on any side effects, so researchers can build up a picture of how each drug performs.

The study is a first because instead of doctors and nurses evaluating patients locally, which is expensive and time-consuming, patients communicate directly by telephone and postal questionnaires with a national monitoring office in Hull. GPs and hospitals will send copies of medical records rather than completing forms which cuts costs by up to 90 per cent on conventional trials.

Prof John Cleland, who is leading the study, said: “Most patients with heart failure are treated with aspirin to try and reduce the risks of heart attack and stroke but aspirin may reduce the benefits of other treatments such as ACE inhibitors. Clopidogrel may be a better alternative but we can’t just assume that – we have to prove it.”