The development of novel anticoagulants requires a comprehensive investigational
approach that is capable of characterizing different aspects of antithrombotic activity. The …

Heparin and warfarin are widely used for the prevention and treatment of venous and
arterial thromboembolism. Although effective, both agents have important limitations; for …

Bloodsucking animals produce anticoagu lantly effective substances that are a challenge to
coagu lation studies. In the past 40 years efforts have been fo cused on the isolation and …

The success in treatment of venous thromboembolism and acute coronary syndromes using
direct thrombin inhibitors has stimulated research aimed at finding a new anticoagulant from …

Nowhere is there more clinical trial activity than in the field of anticoagulant therapy.
Numerous parenteral and oral anticoagulants are currently undergoing phase II and III …

This chapter will focus on anticoagulant molecules described until now from
hematophagous animals. The evolutionary scenario for hematophagous animals is …

The circulation of blood is pivotal for our survival. During injury, the integrity of the system is
compromised, and processes such as vasoconstriction, platelet aggregation, blood …

To obtain blood meals, haematophagous animals are armed with potent pharmacological
molecules to overcome several of their hosts' response systems. Among them, a large …

To facilitate the feeding of blood, hematophagous animals use pharmacologically active
molecules to ensure free-flowing of blood at both the feeding site and within the digestion …

Highlights•Until now warfarin was the most described oral anticoagulant.•The new oral
anticoagulants affect different steps in the coagulation cascade and simplify long-term …