New oral anticoagulant drugs: real-world data.

Abstract

Oral anticoagulants or ‘blood thinners’ were proposed in 400 BC during the time of Hippocrates [1]. The first paper entitled ‘Coumadin (warfarin) sodium – a new anticoagulant’ was published in 1956 [2]. Despite its limitations, coumadin stood the test of time. Ximelagatran, a very potent oral thrombin inhibitor, licensed in Europe for a short time, was later withdrawn in 2006 for concerns of causing hepatotoxicity [3].