Anthos’ blood thinner cuts the risk of bleeding amid race to develop safer anticoagulants

PHILADEL­PHIA — An an­ti­co­ag­u­lant from An­thos Ther­a­peu­tics sub­stan­tial­ly cut the risk of bleed­ing com­pared to Xarel­to in a mid-stage safe­ty study.

The An­thos drug is part of an up-and-com­ing class of in­ves­ti­ga­tion­al an­ti­co­ag­u­lants that clin­i­cians and com­pa­nies hope will of­fer pa­tients a bet­ter, safer op­tion for pre­vent­ing stroke and blood clots over cur­rent­ly avail­able pills.

The risk of bleed­ing is one of the most feared ef­fects of cur­rent blood thin­ners, which are pre­scribed for peo­ple af­ter they have had cer­tain surg­eries or for those with atri­al fib­ril­la­tion — an ir­reg­u­lar heart­beat that can lead to stroke.

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