Lovenox Allows Home Treatment of Acute DVT

COLLEGEVILLE, Penn—Lovenox (enoxaparin sodium) Injection, from Rhône-Poulenc Rorer Inc., has received FDA approval for the inpatient treatment of acute deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) with or without pulmonary embolism and the outpatient treatment of acute DVT without pulmonary embolism. Both indications require that Lovenox be administered in conjunction with warfarin sodium.

Cancer surgery and chemotherapy are risk factors for DVT, the company said. Until now, the standard treatment has been unfractionated heparin, administered through continuous IV infusion and requiring hospitalization for several days.

Now, the company said, patients diagnosed with DVT can be treated in the hospital or in their own homes via twice-daily subcutaneous injections of Lovenox. A study at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Fontana, Calif, showed an estimated cost savings of $547 per patient with home use of Lovenox.

Lovenox, a low-molecular-weight heparin, was initially approved in 1993 for prevention of DVT in hip and knee replacement surgery and high-risk abdominal surgery.