Prasugrel is commonly used to lower the risk of having a heart attack or other serious problem with your heart or blood vessels in any of the following situations. Prasugrel is an thienopyridine and a prodrug which inhibits ADP receptors by irreversibly acting on the P2Y12 receptor on platelets. The active metabolite of prasugrel prevents binding of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) to its platelet receptor, impairing the ADP-mediated activation of the glycoprotein GPIIb/IIIa complex. Prasugrel is proposed to have a similar mechanism of action to clopidogrel.