Combination therapy for treating, preventing, or reducing the risks associated with acute coronary ischemic syndrome and related conditions

Platelet activation and aggregation are involved in unstable angina and acute myocardial infarction, in reocclusion following thrombolytic therapy and angioplasty, in transient ischemic attacks and in a variety of other vaso-occlusive disorders. When a blood vessel is damaged either by acute intervention such as angioplasty, or more chronically by the pathophysiological processes of atherosclerosis, platelets are activated to adhere to the disrupted surface and to each other. This activation, adherence and aggregation may lead to occlusive thrombus formation in the lumen of the blood vessel. The invention provides a method for treating, preventing, or reducing the risk of developing a condition selected from the group consisting of acute coronary ischemic syndrome, thrombosis, thromboembolism, thrombotic occlusion and reocclusion, restenosis, transient ischemic attack, and first or subsequent thrombotic stroke, in a patient, comprising administering to the patient a therapeutically effective amount of an antiplatelet agent in combination with a therapeutically effective amount of a COX-2 inhibitor. The invention also provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutically effective amount of a COX-2 inhibitor, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and an antiplatelet agent, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.