--- title: Heart Attack, Stroke Risk Lowered With New Drug Zontivity description: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has the green light for a new drug from Merck that prevents blood clots canonical: https://time.com/93565/fda-blood-clot-medication-merck-zontivity/ author: David Stout article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-09T05:48:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:44:51.316Z article:section: Health og:title: Heart Attack, Stroke Risk Lowered With New Drug Zontivity og:description: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has the green light for a new drug from Merck that prevents blood clots og:url: https://time.com/93565/fda-blood-clot-medication-merck-zontivity/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta899087823e63bf8/69868e9dcd684855b4094923/188058255.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5111 og:image:height: 2875 og:image:alt: 188058255 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Heart Attack, Stroke Risk Lowered With New Drug Zontivity twitter:description: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has the green light for a new drug from Merck that prevents blood clots twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta899087823e63bf8/69868e9dcd684855b4094923/188058255.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # FDA Clears the Way for New Blood-Clot Medication > Sponsored content. 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Getty Images by [David Stout](https://time.com/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout May 9, 2014 5:48 AM UTC The FDA [gave the go-ahead](http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm396585.htm) to a new drug on Thursday that can be used to inhibit blood clots. The new medication, which reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes, is produced by American pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck & Co. and will be sold under the name Zontivity. “In patients who have had a heart attack or who have peripheral arterial disease, this drug will lower the risk of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular death,” said Ellis Unger, director of the FDA’s Office of Drug Evaluation I. However, like other blood-clot inhibitors, Zontivity increases the risk of bleeding by hindering platelets in the blood from clustering together. For these reasons, the FDA advises patients who have suffered from a stroke or traumatic head injury to avoid the medication. The approval of the drug was reportedly delayed over safety concerns due to fatal bleeding in patients who were given the medication during clinical trials, according to [Reuters](http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/05/08/merck-fda-idINL2N0NU2II20140508). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/93565/fda-blood-clot-medication-merck-zontivity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/93565/fda-blood-clot-medication-merck-zontivity/"},"headline":"FDA Clears the Way for New Blood-Clot Medication","datePublished":"2014-05-09T05:48:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:44:51.316Z","description":"Zontivity, a new drug from Merck, can be used to reduce the risk of stroke or cardiovascular death and treat patients who have suffered a heart attack","url":"https://time.com/93565/fda-blood-clot-medication-merck-zontivity/","keywords":["medicine","FDA","Stroke","health","heart attack"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta899087823e63bf8/69868e9dcd684855b4094923/188058255.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Stout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-stout/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta899087823e63bf8/69868e9dcd684855b4094923/188058255.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"188058255","caption":"188058255","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/medicine/","name":"medicine"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/93565/fda-blood-clot-medication-merck-zontivity/","name":"FDA Clears the Way for New Blood-Clot Medication"}}]}] ```