Andexanet alfa
AndexxaUniProt P00742 · 3D model
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A modified, inactive copy of a natural clotting protein that acts as a decoy, soaking up apixaban or rivaroxaban so the body's own clotting system can work again.
How it works
Andexanet alfa is a lab-made copy of a natural blood-clotting protein, factor Xa, with two changes that keep it from actually functioning as an enzyme. It can no longer trigger clotting on its own, and it can't attach to blood vessel surfaces the way the real protein does. But it still looks enough like factor Xa that blood-thinning drugs (apixaban and rivaroxaban) latch onto it instead of the patient's own factor Xa. That frees up the body's real clotting machinery to work normally again, helping stop dangerous bleeding.
What it’s used for
Andexanet alfa is used in emergencies to reverse the blood-thinning effect of two specific drugs, apixaban and rivaroxaban, when a patient on one of them has severe or uncontrolled bleeding. It is not approved to reverse any other blood thinner.
- Mechanism
- Recombinant factor Xa decoy protein (reverses apixaban/rivaroxaban anticoagulation)
- Drug class
- Recombinant decoy protein
- Therapeutic area
- Emergency / Hematology