Argatroban for elective percutaneous coronary intervention: The ARG-E04 multi-center study

The synthetic arginine-derived direct thrombin inhibitor argatroban is an attractive anticoagulant for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), because of its rapid onset and offset, and its hepatic elimination. Argatroban was approved for PCI in patients with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT). However, there are limited data about argatroban in non-HIT patients. The objective of this open-label, multiple-dose, controlled study was to examine the safety and efficacy of argatroban in patients undergoing elective PCI.Of 140 patients randomized to three argatroban dose groups (ARG250, ARG300, and ARG350 with 250, 300, or 350 μg/kg bolus, followed by 15, 20, or 25 μg/kg/min infusion) and …