Summary

It is common knowledge that there is room for improvement in outcomes for patients that have had a heart attack and reperfusion therapy. Despite successful epicardial coronary reperfusion, microvascular and myocardial tissue perfusion often remains compromised due to reperfusion injury. Pexelizumab is a complement C5 inhibitor that had shown promise in reducing damage caused by heart attack and reperfusion injury. This article discusses the results from the Assessment of Pexelizumab in Acute Myocardial Infarction [APEX] trial that was conducted to determine whether treatment with pexelizumab would have an effect on all-cause mortality in this population.