The British company, AstraZeneca, came a step closer to getting one of its top new drug hopes onto the market following its submission to the U. S. regulators to have Brilinta blood clot preventer approved for sale.

The company also said that it has submitted a New Drug Application for Brilinta, also known as ticagrelor, to the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The drug has also been submitted for approval in Europe which has high hopes attached to it from analysts to be a multibillion-dollar a year seller for Astrazeneca.

This drug is a counterpart of Plavix, which is the world’s most widely used medicines and is sold by Bristol-myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis with annual sales of about $9 billion.

It will be a competitor for Plavix. AstraZeneca claimed that Brilinta has been proved to be superior to Plavix in a head-to-head phase III trial.

Brilinta initiated a response in patients which was not done by plavix. It could also be turned off at a much faster rate which means that patients could go into surgery right away if needed with log-lasting effects.