IS USED FOR
Clopidogrel Winthrop 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 Winthrop is taken 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).
You have been prescribed Clopidogrel Winthrop to help prevent blood clots and reduce the risk of these 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 should 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 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 Clopidogrel Winthrop and acetylsalicylic acid for this condition. Your doctor should have prescribed Clopidogrel Winthrop plus acetylsalicylic acid if you cannot take ?oral anticoagulants? and you do not have a risk of major bleeding.