New data indicates Brilinta/Brilique™ has the flexibility to be initiated pre-hospital or in hospital in STEMI patients

AstraZeneca today announced the results of the Phase IV ATLANTIC study, which indicates that the profile of BRILINTA/BRILIQUE™ (ticagrelor) is comparable whether administered in a pre-hospital or in-hospital setting to ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients. The data will be presented during the European Society of Cardiology congress¹ taking place between 30 August and 3 September 2014 in Barcelona.

Results of the ATLANTIC study were also published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

ATLANTIC was designed to evaluate pre-hospital administration versus in-hospital administration of ticagrelor in terms of pre-percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) – or angioplasty – procedural effectiveness, bleeding at 24 hours and 30 days and the pre-specified composite endpoint of death, MI, stroke, urgent revascularisation and definite acute stent thrombosis at 30 days. Research shows that the effectiveness of PCI may be impacted by delays caused when transferring patients with acute STEMI to the catheterisation lab in hospital, and that STEMI patients have a high risk of persistent and total coronary occlusion (obstruction of blood flow in the coronary artery), resulting in a higher risk of short-term mortality².

There was no statistically significant difference between the pre-hospital or in-hospital study arms in the co-primary endpoints of pre-PCI procedural effectiveness; percentage of patients not achieving ST segment elevation resolution ≥70% before PCI (OR 0.93;95% CI 0.69, 1.25; p=0.632), and percentage of patients not reaching thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) flow grade 3 in the infarct-related – or “culprit” – artery at initial angiography (OR 0.97; 95% CI 0.75, 1.25; p=0.821).

The ATLANTIC study was not powered to look at clinical outcomes, however there was no difference between the two arms in terms of composite endpoint. The pre-hospital administration of ticagrelor indicates a risk reduction of post-PCI stent thrombosis (a secondary endpoint) both at 24 hours (0% versus 0.8%; nominal p = 0.0078) and 30 days (0.2% versus 1.2%; nominal p=0.023).

The study results also showed that there was no difference in bleeding events between the pre-hospital and in-hospital study arms, the primary safety endpoint of the study. Rates of bleeding events that were not related to coronary-artery bypass grafting were low during the first 48 hours after the initial dose, and from 48 hours through to 30 days, and the rates did not differ significantly between the two study groups, indicating that earlier, pre-hospital administration of ticagrelor in patients with acute STEMI can be undertaken without increased bleeding risk³.

“ATLANTIC has indicated that in STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI, ticagrelor has the flexibility to be used safely in either pre-hospital or in-hospital settings with a potential benefit on the early occurrence of stent thrombosis” said Dr. Gilles Montalescot, MD, Professor of Cardiology at Pitié-Salpétrière Hospital, Paris, France, and Primary Investigator of the ATLANTIC study. “These results are in line with the new ESC/EACTS 2014 Guidelines on Myocardial Revascularisation that were also presented at this year’s ESC conference, which give a class I recommendation to start dual antiplatelet therapy in STEMI patients at first medical contact.”

Marc Ditmarsch, Global Development Lead for BRILINTA said: “The results from the ATLANTIC study allow us to better understand the role of BRILINTA in treating STEMI patients. The data indicates that BRILINTA has the flexibility to be initiated pre-hospital or in-hospital in STEMI patients with no adverse impact on bleeding. While not the primary focus of this study, the data indicating a risk reduction of post-PCI stent thrombosis in those patients who received BRILINTA before reaching hospital are also encouraging, and warrant further investigation.”

ATLANTIC is a key trial building on the results of the pivotal PLATO study, which demonstrated that treatment with ticagrelor plus aspirin for 12 months was associated with a 21% relative risk reduction (RRR) in cardiovascular death (4% vs. 5.1%; 1.1% ARR; P=0.001) and a 16% RRR in MI compared to clopidogrel plus aspirin at 12 months (5.8% vs. 6.9%; 1.1% ARR; P<0.005). PLATO was the first study to report in the global PARTHENON programme, designed to address unanswered questions in atherothrombotic disease and to investigate the impact of BRILINTA on reducing atherothrombotic events. PARTHENON is AstraZeneca’s largest ever clinical trial programme, involving more than 80,000 patients worldwide, and is part of the company’s commitment to understanding and advancing treatments for cardiovascular diseases to improve patient health.

1. Data on file. ATLANTIC data will be presented as part of the European Society of Cardiology congress at 16:48 CEST on Monday, 1 September during the ‘Hotline’ session. It will also be part of the ‘Meet the Trialists’ session at 10:10 CEST on Tuesday, 2 September.
2. Chan M, Sun J et al. Long-Term Mortality of Patients Undergoing Cardiac Catheterization for ST-Elevation and Non-ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction. American Heart Association. 2009; 3112.
3. Non-CABG-related and bleeding event according to PLATO criteria (composite of major and minor bleeds):

• – ≤ 48 hours after first dose p=0.87
• – > 48 hours and ≤ 30 days after first dose p=0.63