Dabigatran is certainly in the news at the moment. A PubMed search identified more than 500 publications—with 307 since the start of 2011 as well as a large direct-to-consumer advertising campaign—for this new direct thrombin inhibitor. Changes in anticoagulation therapy seem both likely and imminent.
The explosion of literature on dabigatran draws heavily from the 7 RCTs included in the meta-analysis of Uchino and Hernandez.1 Dabigatran is the primary contender among several to have reached the finish line of phase 3 trials largely unscathed and has gained approval both in the United States and Europe for prophylaxis of VTE and stroke in patients with nonvalvular AF.