July 12, 2010 - Lilly Touting Blood Test To Boost Effient Sales.

The New York Times (7/12, Pollack) "Prescriptions" blog reported, "Eli Lilly is about to try a new tack to help flagging sales of its new anti-clotting drug, Effient [prasugrel]." The drugmaker "will urge doctors to" administer "a blood test" developed by Accumetrics to "patients taking a rival drug, Plavix [clopidogrel bisulfate], to see if it is working," and "if it isn't, doctors would presumably switch patients to Effient." According to the Times, the "collaboration is an example of how pharmaceutical companies and diagnostics companies can work together for mutual advantage." Recent studies have demonstrated that effectiveness of clopidogrel may be impaired by using Proton Pump Inhibitor medications.