An analysis of Bayer's XANTUS programme revealed the safety profile of the oral Factor Xa inhibitor Xarelto® (rivaroxaban) in clinical practice.

The results were recently published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC).

Low bleeding and low stroke rates were noted in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) treated with Xarelto, as well as low rates of dropouts from the treatment were observed. The results indicated that more than 96% of patients did not show any signs of treatment-emergent, independently adjudicated major bleeding, stroke, non-central nervous system (CNS) systemic embolisms (SE) or death.

Three large, international, prospective, observational cohort studies XANTUS, XANAP and XANTUS-EL constituted the XANTUS programme.

The early observations from the collective programme were presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Barcelona, Spain in August 2017.

Dr Michael Devoy, Chief Medical Officer at Bayer said, "This independently adjudicated programme - the largest, pre-planned, prospective analysis of a single NOAC for stroke prevention in patients with AF to date - provides valuable, high-quality real-world insights on the management of AF in daily clinical practice, we are committed to supporting physicians and patients in the safe and responsible use of Xarelto and to continue our extensive clinical and real-world research programmes."

Oral anticoagulation medication has been shown to avert the majority of AF-related strokes, and the XANTUS, XANAP and XANTUS-EL studies have proven this true for Xarelto in practice.