Effient vs. Eliquis

• Are Eliquis and Effient the Same Thing?
• What Are Possible Side Effects of Effient?
• What Are Possible Side Effects of Eliquis?
• What Is Effient?
• What Is Eliquis?
• What Drugs Interact with Effient?
• What Drugs Interact with Eliquis?
• How Should Effient Be Taken?
• How Should Eliquis Be Taken?

Effient (prasugrel) and Eliquis (apixaban) are used to prevent blood clots.

Effient is used in people with acute coronary syndrome who are undergoing a procedure after a recent heart attack or stroke, and in people with certain disorders of the heart or blood vessels.

Eliquis is used in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation.

Effient and Eliquis belong to different drug classes. Effient is an antiplatelet drug and Eliquis is an anticoagulant (blood thinner).

Side effects of Effient and Eliquis that are similar include increased tendency for bleeding, nausea, and skin rash.

Side effects of Effient that are different from Eliquis include headache, dizziness, back pain, minor chest pain, tired feeling, fatigue, cough, high or low blood pressure (hypertension or hypotension), shortness of breath, slow heart rate, fever, swelling or pain in the extremities, and diarrhea.

Side effects of Eliquis that are different from Effient include allergic reactions, fainting, and anemia.

Both Effient and Eliquis may interact with other medicines to treat or prevent blood clots or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Eliquis may also interact with antidepressants.

Common side effects of Effient include:

• an increased tendency for bleeding,
• headache,
• dizziness,
• back pain,
• minor chest pain,
• tired feeling,
• fatigue,
• nausea,
• cough,
• high or low blood pressure (hypertension or hypotension),
• shortness of breath,
• slow heart rate,
• rash,
• fever,
• swelling or pain in the extremities, and
• diarrhea.

Common side effects of Eliquis include:

• skin rash,
• allergic reactions,
• fainting, nausea, and
• anemia.

Tell your doctor if you have serious side effects of Eliquis including easy bruising, unusual bleeding (nose, mouth, vagina, or rectum), bleeding from wounds or needle injections, any bleeding that will not stop; heavy menstrual periods; headache, dizziness, weakness, feeling like you might pass out; red, pink, or brown urine; black or bloody stools, coughing up blood or vomit that looks like coffee grounds; numbness, tingling, or muscle weakness (especially in your legs and feet); or loss of movement in any part of your body.

Effient (prasugrel) is an antiplatelet drug that prevents the platelets in the bloodstream from aggregating and forming blood clots, used to prevent blood clots in people with acute coronary syndrome who are undergoing a procedure after a recent heart attack or stroke, and in people with certain disorders of the heart or blood vessels.

Eliquis (apixaban) is an anticoagulant (blood thinner) that reduces blood clotting and reduces the risk of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation.

Effient may interact with NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) or warfarin. Tell your doctor all medications and supplements you use. There are no adequate and well-controlled studies of Effient use in pregnant women, although studies in animals did not show any evidence of harm to the developing fetus. Effient should be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit to the mother justifies the potential risk to the fetus. It is unknown whether prasugrel is excreted in human milk.

Eliquis may interact with blood thinners and heparin, antibiotics, antidepressants, antifungals, antithrombotics, bone marrow stimulants, bosentan, conivaptan, cyclosporine, dextran, heart or blood pressure medications, hepatitis C medications, HIV/AIDS medications, imatinib, isoniazid, nefazodone, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), rifabutin, rifampin, rifapentine, salicylates (such as aspirin, Pepto-Bismol, and others), seizure medications, St. John's wort, thrombopoietic growth factors, or vasodilators.

Effient treatment is started as a single 60-mg oral loading dose and then continued at 10 mg orally once daily. Patients taking Effient should also take aspirin (75 mg to 325 mg) daily.

The recommended dose of Eliquis for most patients is 5 mg taken orally twice daily.

The recommended dose of Eliquis is 2.5 mg twice daily in patients with at least two of the following characteristics:

• age ≥ 80 years
• body weight ≤ 60 kg
• serum creatinine ≥ 1.5 mg/dL