Oral platelet inhibitors proving difficult

Despite the success of injectable platelet inhibitors such as Centocor Inc.'s ReoPro abciximab, Cor Therapeutics Inc.'s Integrilin eptifibatide and Merck & Co. Inc.'s Aggrastat tirofiban, oral versions of the GPIIb/IIIa antagonist class have been hard to come by. Nevertheless, the potential market for an oral platelet inhibitor is so enticing that development efforts are expected to continue despite several setbacks.

Thus the field may be left with only CORR's cromafiban, which is in Phase II testing to treat acute coronary syndrome (ACS). CORR is encouraged by the fact that injected GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors work in an acute setting and that Xubix did show equivalent efficacy to prophylactic aspirin. Moreover, CORR is banking on its compound's particular characteristics as well as appropriate clinical trial design to get cromafiban to market...