Intense competition for new blood thinners

NEW YORK, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Pharmaceutical firms in the United States and Europe are racing to produce the next generation of blood thinners to replace the old mainstay warfarin.

With at least five drugs in the advanced testing stage, the first candidates could reach the market as early as 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Competition to replace warfarin is intense in light of what some analysts see as a potential global market that could exceed $10 billion by the middle of the next decade.

Physicians have long wanted an alternative to the 50-year-old drug because warfarin requires patients to have frequent blood-test monitoring and can produce serious side effects.

Interest in anti-clotting treatments is especially keen at the American Society of Hematology meeting under way in Atlanta, the newspaper said.

Johnson and Johnson was scheduled to present data to the meeting showing that its experimental pill rivaroxaban, developed with Bayer AG of Germany, is superior to an injectable treatment marketed by Sanofi-Aventis SA.

Other contenders in the market include Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer and Eli Lilly, the Journal reported.