Once-daily pill to transform stroke prevention

The treatment of patients at risk of stroke could be revolutionised by a new once-a-day pill.

Rivaroxaban, a drug for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) has been given the go ahead for use on the NHS.

It has been found to have less side-effects than the previous treatment for AF, warfarin which was developed from rat poison.

The new drug is a new generation of anti-clotting agents which are aimed at preventing stroke, a particular risk associated with AF.

AF is thought to affect around 1.2 million Britons and in the main cause of one in seven strokes.

"Managing stroke risk is a vitally important part of the overall NHS care that AF patients receive, and new treatments which help simplify this process, while removing some of the limitations of standard therapy, represent an important step forward," said Professor John Camm, professor of Clinical Cardiology at St. George's, University of London.

He explained that the once-daily treatment can effectively eliminate the need for coagulation monitoring.

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