The medicine proved just as effective at preventing blood clots and reduced the risk of bleeding by half. Most importantly for patient convenience, it was much easier to use, said an U-O release.

'We now have a better treatment that reduces the risk of bleeding, and a patient no longer has to endure injections by needle,' said Gary Raskob, lead project researcher and dean of the U-O College of Public Health.

Apixaban is now being studied in Phase III clinical trials and, if approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, will be an important option for patients having joint replacement surgery.

These findings will appear in the New England Journal of Medicine.