The company, which employs thousands in the Macclesfield and Alderley Edge areas, has announced that phase three trials had proved 63 per cent more effective in reducing the risk of a major venous thromboembolism - blood clots blocking veins - than current and routinely used drug enoxaprin.
The trials involved testing 2,800 patients and found only minor side effects with some patients showing a small increase in surgery-related bleeding.
AstraZeneca has already filed for a European licence for a potentially large market for thrombosis which affects more than four million people each year. The market is currently valued at around $3.1bn.
DVT can also occur during knee and hip replacements and this new drug - which works by inhibiting throbin which is a key enzyme in the blood clotting process - and the licence would allow the drug to be used in major orthapaedic surgery. Tweet