Cost-effective drug selection: Antiplatelet agents

Although others may be used on an occasional basis, the main antiplatelet classes utilized to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease are aspirin, ADP antagonists, and glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa receptor inhibitors. These agents have shown their clinical benefits in a wide variety of well-designed clinical trials. As health care advances into the new millennium, the clinical benefits of medical therapies need to be accompanied by an economic analysis of this benefit. For clinicians to make cost-effective selection of antiplatelet agents, the efficacy, safety and pharmacoeconomic data all need to be considered.