Rivaroxaban for Patients With Antiphospholipid Syndrome

Overview

Long-term anticoagulation is widely used for secondary thromboprophylaxis in the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) due to the high risk of recurrent events. Currently anticoagulation with vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) is the standard of care but have unpredictable pharmacodynamic properties that requiere monitoring for dose adjustment. Rivaroxaban, an orally active direct factor Xa inhibitor, has been shown to be effective and safe compared with warfarin for the treatment of venous thromboembolism and non valvular atrial fibrillation in major RCTs. No studies had been published in APS.The aim of the study is to investigate the efficacy and safety of rivaroxaban in preventing recurrent thrombosis in patients with APS compared with acenocoumarol

This is a phase 3 randomized, multicenter, non-inferiority open-label RCT. 190 eligible APS patients with arterial or venous thrombotic history receiving acenocoumarol will be stratified according the presence of SLE and venous/arterial thrombotic history and randomized (1:1) either to continue vitamin K antagonists (standard of care, normalized ratio (INR) 2-3 or 2.5 to 3.5 in those with recurrent thrombotic episodes) or to switch to rivaroxaban (20 mg/day). The primary efficacy outcome is the development of any thrombotic event during the study period. Secondary efficacy outcomes include time to thrombosis, type of thrombosis (arterial or venous), overall causes of death, evaluation of a prognostic biomarker panel of recurrent thrombosis. The primary safety outcome will be major bleeding. Secondary safety outcomes include any adverse event and minor bleeding.