NHS gets blood clot pill that could save thousands

The drug Pradaxa will be licensed for those who have had a hip or knee replaced.

These patients are at high risk of blood clots for six weeks after their operation.

Every year, clots kill 25,000 men and women in English hospitals - more than the number of deaths from breast cancer and 20 times the number who die from the MRSA superbug.

Thrombosis charities say the potential benefits are "absolutely huge".

More than 130,000 men and women have a hip or knee replacement each year.

Currently they have to be given a regular injection of the drug Heparin to prevent clots.

Many elderly patients miss out on protection because they cannot inject themselves or because there are not enough district nurses to do it for them.

Now they will simply be able to take a pill.

So far, however, Pradaxa is not licensed for the hundreds of thousands of others at risk of blood clots and strokes - such as those with heart murmurs.

Many of these take Warfarin, which must be monitored in NHS clinics to ensure it does not thin the blood too much.

Pradaxa, however, needs no such checks.

Dr Beverley Hunt, medical director of the UK thrombosis charity Lifeblood, said: "We very much welcome the first prospective license for Pradaxa in patients undergoing hip and knee surgery.

"The need for and the potential impact of a safe and predictable oral anticoagulant is profound.

"The potential for this new drug is absolutely huge. At least 750,000 people are on Warfarin, and many of them could benefit."

According to The Lancet, up to a half of all hospital patients are at risk of blood clots.

Trials showed Pradaxa was just as effective as Heparin.

The pill works by reversing the effects of thrombin, which is the substance most responsible for causing blood clots. Last week the European Medicines Agency recommended Pradaxa be approved from April.

The drug, made by German company Boehringer Ingelheim, is expected to receive its full licence within the next few weeks.

It is now being investigated by the rationing watchdog NICE.

The drug's makers are hopeful of getting approval for it to be used across the NHS for hip and knee replacement patients within months.

The medicines agency has not yet decided whether the drug should be licensed for the thousands of others at risk of clotting.

Professor Simon Frostick of Liverpool University said: "Given the trend for shorter hospital stays following joint replacement surgery, it is becoming increasingly important to have anticoagulant treatments available which are well tolerated and easy to use.

"Pradaxa may be an attractive alternative to other regimens currently used to prevent blood clots."

Blood clotting has been a huge problem in the NHS for years. Last year Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson admitted there was "significant room for improvement".