Pradaxa is currently the only FDA approved drug that inhibits factor Xa and seems to have significant advantages over Coumadin. Early studies have shown a 21% less likely risk of stroke in atrial fibrillation, a 31% lower risk of bleeding, and an 11% lower mortality rate. Two drugs under study by the FDA now include Xarelto, and Eliquis.
If this data holds up, these drugs promise to replace Coumadin and perhaps aspirin and Plaxix as anticoagulants.
This is well and good, but the science behind the conclusion that these drugs are the cat's meow is completely lacking. Until we have comparative studies that show head to head results from pharmaceutical drugs and nutritional products such as nattokinase, lumbrokinase, fish oil, ginko biloba, vitamin E etc., we will not have good data to guide us in choosing a therapy. Our government funded NIH has the responsibility to fund these studies and has let us down bigtime because of its conflicts of interest with Big Pharma.
Lastly, we need a better way to be certain that the approach we're taking actually is working. The best way to do this is to look at blood under dark field microscopy. This is a far underutilized technology that could save a lot of heart attacks, strokes and other diseases where coagulation plays an important factor.
