Edith A. Nutescu, PharmD Department of Pharmacy Practice and the Antithrombosis Service, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago
Nancy L. Shapiro, PharmD Department of Pharmacy Practice and the Antithrombosis Service, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago
Aimee Chevalier, PharmD Department of Pharmacy Practice and the Antithrombosis Service, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago
Alpesh N. Amin, MD, MBA Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine
Correspondence: Edith A. Nutescu, PharmD, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Pharmacy, 833 S. Wood Street, MC 886, Chicago, IL 60612; enutescu@uic.edu
Dr. Nutescu has received grant/research support from AstraZeneca and is a consultant for Sanofi-Aventis and GlaxoSmithKline.
Drs. Shapiro and Chevalier have indicated that they have nothing to disclose.
Dr. Amin is on the speakers' bureau of Sanofi-Aventis.
ABSTRACT
For over 50 years, anticoagulant options for the treatment and prevention of thrombosis have been limited mainly to traditional agents such as unfractionated heparin and oral vitamin K antagonists such as warfarin. These traditional agents are fraught with limitations that complicate their clinical use. A variety of novel anticoagulants with improved pharmacologic and clinical profiles have recently been introduced or are in development, offering benefits over traditional therapies. Specifically, progress has been made in the development of low-molecular-weight heparins, factor Xa inhibitors, and direct thrombin inhibitors. Because of their convenience and ease of use, some of these novel compounds are competing with the traditional anticoagulants and are needed additions to the antithrombotic arsenal.
