A Comparison of the VerifyNow P2Y12 Point-of-Care Device and Light Transmission Aggregometry to Monitor Platelet Function with Prasugrel and Clopidogrel: An Integrated Analysis

We compared platelet function results obtained with the VerifyNow P2Y12 (VN-P2Y12) point-of-care device and the light transmission aggregometry (5 and 20 microM adenosine diphosphate) method using an integrated database of eight clinical trials with a total of 591 subjects. The study was performed in healthy subjects, patients with coronary artery disease, patients with end-stage renal disease, and patients with acute coronary syndrome after treatment with prasugrel or clopidogrel. Analyses focused on loading doses of 60 mg prasugrel or 600 mg clopidogrel and daily maintenance doses of 10 mg prasugrel or 75 or 150 mg clopidogrel. Similar patterns of platelet inhibition were observed for light transmission aggregometry versus VN-P2Y12 and assay results were well correlated (r approximately 0.7), although a sigmoidal model may more accurately represent the relationship between light transmission aggregometry and VN-P2Y12, because VN-P2Y12 was relatively less sensitive to low and high levels of inhibition. The percentage of poor responders was less with prasugrel compared with clopidogrel by both assays, but the percentages tended to differ between the assays. The VN-P2Y12 "BASE" channel appeared to be susceptible to high levels of P2Y12 blockade, which would underestimate the VN-P2Y12-reported percent inhibition in individuals who respond well to loading doses of thienopyridines. This integrated analysis supports the findings of earlier individual studies comparing these methodologies that assess platelet function.