Johnson & Johnson says it has received federal approval to sell a new type of blood thinner that reduces deadly blood clots in patients who have received knee and hip replacements.
The company's drug, rivaroxaban, is the first Food and Drug Administration-approved medicine that works by blocking a clotting protein called factor Xa. Many older blood thinners work by preventing platelets from sticking together.
J&J's pill will serve as an alternative to Sanofi-Aventis SA's popular injection Lovenox, which is the standard treatment for patients who have undergone orthopedic surgery.
More than 800,000 such surgeries are performed each year in the U.S. Dangerous blood clots in the leg arteries are a frequent side effect of the procedure, as inflammation prevents recovering patients from walking for extended periods of time.
J&J is based in New Brunswick, N.J.