title: New Anticoagulants for the Prevention and Treatment of Venous Thromboembolism.
abstract: Anticoagulant drugs, like vitamin K antagonists and heparin, have been the mainstay for the treatment and prevention of venous thromboembolic disease for many years. Although effective if appropriately used, traditional anticoagulants have several limitations such as unpredictable pharmacologic and pharmacokinetic responses and various adverse effects including serious bleeding complications. New oral anticoagulants have recently emerged as an alternative because of their rapid onset/offset of action, predictable linear dose-response relationships and fewer drug interactions. However, they are still associated with problems such as bleeding, lack of reversal agents and standard laboratory monitoring. In an attempt to overcome these drawbacks, key steps of the hemostatic pathway are investigated as targets for anticoagulation. Here we reviewed the traditional and new anticoagulants with respect to their targets in the coagulation cascade, along with their therapeutic advantages and disadvantages. In addition, investigational anticoagulant drugs currently in the development stages were introduced.
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy & Institute of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Ajou University, Suwon 16499, Republic of Korea.|College of Pharmacy, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Joo Hee
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kyung-Min
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hye Sun
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Gwak
keywords: Anticoagulant; Heparin; Venous thromboembolism; Vitamin K antagonist