BEIJING, Nov. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- 10 million people worldwide have a heart attack each year, and Aspirin is a standard emergency treatment. But a British study released Thursday said that adding the drug clopidogrel could save more lives.

    The study, by Dr Zheng-Ming Chen and scientists at the University of Oxford in England, found that clopidogrel -- sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb under the trade name Plavix -- provides a benefit to heart-attack patients with an elevated ST-segment reading on an electrocardiogram.

    In contrast, earlier studies indicated a benefit only in patients without this EKG reading.

    "If early clopidogrel therapy was given in hospitals to just 1 million of the 10 million patients who have a heart attack every year then it would, on present evidence, prevent about 5,000 deaths and 5,000 non-fatal reinfractions (repeat heart attacks) and stroke," Chen said in The Lancet medical journal.

    The researchers compared the impact of the drug against a placebo, or dummy pill, on 45,800 patients treated for heart attacks at 1,250 hospitals in China.

    In patients who received 75 milligrams of the drug daily, in addition to an aspirin or other treatment for four weeks, there were 7 per cent fewer deaths than in the placebo group and a 14 per cent drop in repeat heart attacks.

    The British Health Foundation said the research was the latest of several studies showing the benefits of the drug for patients with vascular disease and also for those who have had heart attacks.

    (Agencies)