Bayer Schering Pharma completes patient enrollment for ROCKET AF study

BARCELONA, Spain Bayer Schering Pharma has finished enrolling patients into its late-stage clinical trial of a drug for preventing complications of atrial fibrillation, the German drug maker announced Sunday.

Bayer said the 14,269-patient phase 3 study, called ROCKET AF, would compare the safety and efficacy of Xarelto (rivaroxaban) in 20 mg doses to warfarin as a way to prevent stroke and non-centrial nervous system systemic embolism in patients with AF.

“We are encouraged by the excellent progress of the ROCKET AF study in atrial fibrillation and look forward to the study results in 2010,” Bayer HealthCare chief medical officer Kemal Malik said in a statement.