Drug breakthrough as scientists try to prevent deaths from heart attacks

International trials for a new drug, ticagrelor, have been taking place over the last six years and results have shown it prevents one in five deaths after a heart attack.

The study, led by Dr Robert Storey, Reader at the University of Sheffield and Consultant Cardiologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, also found that patients taking the drug recover quicker compared to the current gold standard drug, clopidogrel.

Dr Storey said: "The latest results on ticagrelor suggest that it has the potential to improve the quality of care and save many lives in the year following a heart attack."

The new findings from one study, called the Onset/Offset study, revealed that the platelet function – the circulation of blood – in patients taking ticagrelor recovered much quicker after the drug is stopped, compared to clopidogrel.

This study also confirmed that breathlessness occurs as a side effect of ticagrelor, but this is not associated with any harmful effects on lung or heart function.

Dr Storey has presented the latest results at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress and was also involved in a 10,000 patient genetic sub-study that was presented at the same time and published in The Lancet.

This confirmed that patients treated with clopidogrel, who have a genetic variant that reduces the effect of the drug, have a slightly higher risk following heart attack - but ticagrelor is not affected by this variant and is more effective.