Since October 2010, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved 3 new anticoagulants that, for the first time, offer patients with such conditions as stroke in the setting of atrial fibrillation (AF), deep vein thrombosis, and pulmonary embolism a long-awaited alternative to the vitamin K antagonist warfarin. This new class of drugs, called “target-specific oral anticoagulants” (TSOACs), includes dabigatran, rivaroxaban, and apixaban. These are the first new oral anticoagulants available since warfarin was approved for use in 1954.
Although these new drugs have demonstrated certain advantages to warfarin, they also have some clear disadvantages, including the lack of available antidotes should a major bleeding event occur.
