Wall Street Journal Reports FDA Issues Warning that Prilosec and Nexium Can Interfere with Plavix

The Wall Street Journal reports that the FDA warned doctors earlier this week that they should tell their patients taking the anti-clotting drug Plavix not to take popular heartburn drugs like Prilosec and Nexium because they may lessen the effects of Plavix. This may be problematic since about half of the patients taking Plavix also take Nexium, Prilosec and other similar medications to prevent stomach bleeding and ulcers which are common side effects of taking Plavix. The alternatives which at this time don’t appear to have any effect on the anti-clotting properties of Plavix are heartburn drugs like Zantac, Axid and Pepcid and older formulations like Mylanta or Maalox, which work differently than Nexium and Prilosec.

A previous study indicated that if you took heartburn drugs like Nexium and Prilosec with Plavix, the risk of heart attack and stroke increased by 50%. For a specific description of the FDA’s position, see the FDA’s press release issued on November 18th.