Shares of The Medicines Co.(NASDAQ: MDCO) was up as much 35 percent on Wednesday morning after the company announced the issuance of a new patent for a safer version of Angiomax, the Company’s anti-clotting drug for patients undergoing coronary angioplasty.

The newly issued patent, No. 7,582,727 (‘727 patent) updates the current patent covering Angiomax, after the company preformed further clinical studies to improve the drug. The ‘727 refers to an improved and safer version of Angiomax.

The new patent has been presented to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for immediate listing in the FDA’s publication “Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations,” generally referred to as the Orange Book. The drug’s current U.S. patent No. 5,196,404 (‘404 patent), expires on March 23, 2010 and specifically relates to the composition of the chemical bivalirudin. Furthermore, The Medicines Company has been granted pediatric exclusivity through September 23, 2010.

In clinical trials, Angiomax showed absolute reduction of 1.7 percent in cardiac mortality and improved overall survival in patients who had suffered the most severe heart attack and received angioplasty. The study, which is called the Horizons-AMI, showed that Angiomax reduced cardiac-related death by 43 percent, improved overall survival by 27 percent and reduced major bleeding complications by 39 percent, compared to the standard of care.

“These results underscore our goal: to bring to doctors critical care medicines that change clinical practice for the better,” said the Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, John Kelley.

The data also supports results from previous studies that showed an association between reduced major bleeding in angioplasty patients and greater long-term survival.

“The bottom line is that in this population of heart attack patients undergoing PCI, Angiomax saves lives, and the degree of that benefit is striking,” said Kelley.