The study infusion was stopped 2 hours before surgery for those undergoing CABG. Early clopidogrel was allowed at the inves- tigators discretion (75% intended early use), and if used, a loading dose of 300 mg was recommended. For patients begin- ning clopidogrel during PCI (intended in 25% of study subjects, but actually implemented in 11%), a dose of 600 mg was permitted. Randomization to 1 of 3 antithrombotic regimens was stratified according to the intention of the investigator to admin- ister early clopidogrel (ie, at or before randomization).56 The primary endpoint (a 30-day composite of all-cause death, MI, recurrent ischemia requiring urgent revasculariza- tion, or thrombotic bailout at 96 hours) occurred in 9.3% of patients in the early therapy arm versus 10.0% of patients in the provisional GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor therapy arm (OR: 0.92; cause death or MI within 30 days) event rates were 11.2% versus 12.3% (OR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.79 to 1.01; P 0.08). Early routine eptifibatide administration was associated with a greater risk of TIMI major hemorrhage (2.6% versus 1.8%; P 0.02). Severe or moderate bleeding, as defined by the GUSTO (Global Utilization of Streptokinase and t-PA for Occluded Coronary Arteries) criteria, also occurred more commonly in the early eptifibatide group (7.6% versus 5.1%; P 0.001). Rates of red blood cell transfusion were 8.6% and 6.7% in the early-eptifibatide and delayed-eptifibatide groups, respectively (P 0.001). There were no significant interactions with respect to prespecified baseline characteris- tics, including early clopidogrel administration, and the pri- mary or secondary efficacy endpoints. In a subgroup analysis, early administration of eptifibatide in patients who underwent PCI was associated with numerically fewer ischemic events. 