RPT-UPDATE 1-FDA panel to vet Boehringer blood thinner Sept 20

(Repeats to additional Reuters clients)

* FDA's advisory panel to meet earlier than some expected

* Boehringer on track to be market pioneer in new drug class

FRANKFURT, Aug 26 (Reuters) - A committee advising the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will discuss Boehringer Ingelheim's Pradaxa pill on Sept. 20, raising the prospect of a speedy market entry for the first drug in a new class of blood thinners.

Some analysts had speculated that Pradaxa, based on the active ingredient dabigatran etexilate, might not go before an advisory committee until later in the year or early in 2011. The announcement, posted on the FDA's Website on Thursday, sets the stage for a key medical congress next week.

Rival anti-clotting pills being developed by Bayer (BAYGn.DE) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY.N) are both set to show positive results as the race intensifies to replace the old, problematic heart drug warfarin. [ID:nLDE67K03L]

Bayer (BAYGn.DE) cooperates with J&J (JNJ.N) while BMS teamed up with Pfizer (PFE.N) to win a piece of a future market that analysts say has potential for $10-$20 billion in annual combined sales.

Daiichi Sankyo (4568.T) is developing another contender pill called Edoxaban.

The date for the FDA panel's meeting puts Boehringer firmly on track to become the first to bring its product to the U.S. market for the prevention of strokes in patients suffering from atrial fibrillation, a common form of irregular heartbeat. (Reporting by Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt and Ben Hirschler in London)