CLOPIDOGREL 75mg

Clopidogrel is prescribed to help prevent blood clots and reduce the risk of severe events because: 

• You have a condition of hardening of arteries (also known as atherosclerosis), and 
• You have previously experienced a heart attack, stroke or have a condition known as peripheral arterial disease, or 
•  You have experienced a severe type of chest pain known as ‘unstable angina’ or ‘myocardial infarction’ (heart attack). For the treatment of this condition your doctor may have placed a stent in the blocked or narrowed artery to restore effective blood flow. You may also be given acetylsalicylic acid (a substance present in many medicines used to relieve pain and lower fever as well as to prevent blood clotting) by your doctor. 
• You have experienced symptoms of a stroke which go away within a short period of time (also known as transient ischemic attack) or an ischemic stroke mild in severity. You may also be given acetylsalicylic acid by your doctor starting within the first 24 hours 
• You have an irregular heartbeat, a condition called ‘atrial fibrillation’, and you cannot take medicines known as ‘oral anticoagulants’ (vitamin K antagonists) which prevent new clots from forming and prevent existing clots from growing. You should have been told that ‘oral anticoagulants’ are more effective than acetylsalicylic acid or the combined use of Plavix and acetylsalicylic acid for this condition. Your doctor should have prescribed Plavix plus acetylsalicylic acid if you cannot take ‘oral anticoagulants’ and you do not have a risk of major bleeding. 

Pharmacotherapeutic group: Platelet aggregation inhibitors 

Clopidogrel contains clopidogrel and belongs to a group of medicines called antiplatelet medicinal products. 

Platelets are very small structures in the blood which clump together during blood clotting. By preventing this clumping, antiplatelet medicinal products reduce the chances of blood clots forming (a process called thrombosis). 

Clopidogrel is taken by adults to prevent blood clots (thrombi) forming in hardened blood vessels (arteries), a process known as atherothrombosis, which can lead to atherothrombotic events (such as stroke, heart attack, or death). 

Please refer to the instructions on the prescription established by your medical doctor. 

The recommended dose, including for patients with a condition called ‘atrial fibrillation’ (an irregular heartbeat), is one 75 mg tablet of Clopidogrel per day to be taken orally with or without food, and at the same time each day. 

If you have experienced severe chest pain (unstable angina or heart attack), your doctor may give you 300 mg or 600 mg of Plavix (1 or 2 tablets of 300 mg or 4 or 8 tablets of 75 mg) once at the start of treatment. Then, the recommended dose is one 75 mg tablet of Plavix per day as described above. 

If you have experienced symptoms of a stroke which go away within a short period of time (also known as transient ischemic attack) or an ischemic stroke mild in severity, your doctor may give you 300 mg of Plavix (1 tablet of 300 mg or 4 tablets of 75 mg) once at the start of treatment. Then, the recommended dose is one 75 mg tablet of Plavix per day as described above with acetylsalicylic acid for 3 weeks. Then the physician would prescribe either Plavix alone or acetylsalicylic acid alone.