Background:
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a significant healthcare burden, but is a preventable and treatable condition. The new oral anticoagulants (NOACs), apixaban, rivaroxaban, dabigatran, and edoxaban have all been shown in phase III trials to be noninferior in efficacy to standard therapies for acute VTE treatment, although there may be some differences in the bleeding rates among the NOACs. This study evaluated the net clinical benefits (NCB) of NOACs vs. standard therapies based on the AMPLIFY, EINSTEIN-Pooled analysis, RECOVER-1, RE-COVER II, and Hokusai-VTE trial results.
Methods:
Event rates of the primary efficacy and safety outcomes, as defined in each original trial, among VTE patients during trial periods were obtained from the published clinical trial data. Data from RECOVER-I and -II trials were combined to represent the findings for dabigatran since the two trials were of similar design. EINSTEIN-pooled (DVT and PE combined) data were used to represent findings for rivaroxaban. The combinations of rates for the primary efficacy endpoint, representing recurrent VTE or death and major bleedings (MB) were evaluated and defined as the NCB of each NOAC. Additionally, the number of VTE patients needed to treat (NNT) to avoid one event (e.g. VTE or MB) with each NOAC was also determined.
Results:
For patients treated in the VTE clinical trials, the differences in event rates of recurrent VTE or death for apixaban, rivaroxaban, dabigatran, and edoxaban vs. standard therapy were -0.43%, -0.23%, 0.20%, and -0.34%, respectively. The differences in event rates of MB for apixaban, rivaroxaban, dabigatran, and edoxaban vs. standard therapy were -1.26%, -0.78%, -0.43%, and -0.24%, respectively. The NCB improved for all NOAC treated patients, with those treated with apixaban (-1.69%) vs. standard therapy having the greatest NCB, followed by those treated with rivaroxaban (-1.01%), edoxaban (-0.58%), and dabigatran ( -0.23%) (Table 1).
Conclusions:
All NOACs were shown to be non-inferior to standard VTE treatments in clinical trials; however, apixaban may provide the optimal NCB with the lowest NNT. How these results translate into real-world outcomes or medical cost reductions will require further evaluation.
Meta-analysis of the efficacy and safety of new oral anticoagulants in patients with cancer-associated acute venous thromboembolism: comment
