Blood Thinner Ineffective for COVID-19 Patients: Study

A clinical trial finds that the anticoagulant apixaban, which has been prescribed to help COVID-19 patients recover, is ineffective and in rare instances dangerous.

Written byDan Robitzski

| 2 min read

Save for Later

Image of a white cardboard box with a blue vertical stripe on the left side, the word “Apixaban” in blue lettering at the bottom, and a depiction of apixaban’s molecular structure in black.

Image credit:© ISTOCK.COM, BACSICA

Listen with Speechify

0:00

2:00

New data from a clinical trial suggest that apixaban, an anticoagulant that’s widely been prescribed to promote recovery in patients with severe cases of COVID-19, doesn’t offer any discernable benefit for people with the disease.

The UK-wide trial, which is run by Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the University of Cambridge, involved more than 1,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and compared the outcomes of those who had been randomly assigned to receive apixaban to those who had not, according to Financial Times. It found that 29.1 percent of those who received the blood thinner either ended up back in the hospital or died within a year, compared to 30.8 percent of people who weren’t given the drug. That finding doesn’t support apixaban as an effective treatment for COVID-19, and the researchers conclude that doctors ought to stop prescribing it to their coronavirus patients. Meanwhile, BBC News reports that a “small number” of the ...

Interested in reading more?

The Scientist ARCHIVES

Become a Member of

Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!

Join for free today

Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

Dan Robitzski
Dan is an award-winning journalist based in Los Angeles who joined The Scientist as a reporter and editor in 2021. Ironically, Dan’s undergraduate degree and brief career in neuroscience inspired him to write about research rather than conduct it, culminating in him earning a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University in 2017. In 2018, an Undark feature Dan and colleagues began at NYU on a questionable drug approval decision at the FDA won first place in the student category of the Association of Health Care Journalists' Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. Now, Dan writes and edits stories on all aspects of the life sciences for the online news desk, and he oversees the “The Literature” and “Modus Operandi” sections of the monthly TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. Read more of his work at danrobitzski.com.
View Full Profile