Topic: Michael Ezekowitz

ATLANTA (Reuters) - An experimental blood thinner being developed by Merck & Co from a new class of drugs appeared to be safe and effective in a mid-stage study that compared three doses against widely used warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation.At 80 mg and 60 mg, the risk for serious bleeding appeared to be comparable to warfarin, according to data presented on Monday at the American College of Cardiology scientific meeting in Atlanta."The profile of the drug is very interesting and the preliminary results look promising, but would have to be validated by a very large Phase III trial," said Dr. Michael Ezekowitz, who presented data from the 508-patient study.We're very sensitive to inducing liver dysfunction and there's no evidence so far that this drug is toxic to the liver," said Ezekowitz, vice president of the Lankanau Institute for Medical Research outside of Philadelphia.Other drugs' trials have excluded these patients," Ezekowitz said.(Reporting by Bill Berkrot and Debra Sherman; Editing by Derek Caney, Dave Zimmerman ...