Edoxaban in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease on Dual Antiplatelet Therapy With Aspirin and Clopidogrel

Dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) with aspirin and a P2Y12 receptor antagonist is pivotal for the treatment of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and in patents following an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Importantly, it is not uncommon that patients requiring DAPT also need to be treated with oral anticoagulant therapy, such as those with atrial fibrillation (AF). Warfarin and clopidogrel are still the most widely utilized oral anticoagulant and P2Y12 receptor inhibitor, respectively. However, this treatment regimen has shown to be associated with an increased risk of bleeding, as well as ischemic complications. Over the past years, several non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs), including edoxaban, have been studied in the setting of AF showing encouraging safety and efficacy profiles as compared with warfarin. In the phase III ENGAGE AF-TIMI 48 trial, edoxaban (60mg or 30mg once/daily) was non-inferior to warfarin with respect to the prevention of stroke or systemic embolism and was associated with significantly lower rates of bleeding and death from cardiovascular causes, in patients with AF. However, the effects of edoxaban in combination with DAPT in the setting of patients with CAD are unexplored. This may indeed represent a limitation for the uptake of edoxaban in modern day clinical practice where \~10% of patients with AF also have CAD requiring PCI and thus may require triple antithrombotic therapy. Moreover, the role of edoxaban as part of a dual antithrombotic treatment strategy, including clopidogrel and stopping aspirin, represents another important area of clinical interest as it has the potential reduce the risk of bleeding while preserving protection from ischemic events. This investigation is a prospective, randomized, parallel-design, open label, pharmacodynamic study conducted in patients with CAD on DAPT with aspirin and clopidogrel testing two different edoxaban dosing regimens (60mg or 30mg once/daily) in addition to DAPT with aspirin and clopidogrel, as well as in combination with clopidogrel only (after stopping aspirin).