In an article reviewed by F1000 Medicine Faculty Members Robert Ruff, Brian Olshansky and Luis Ruilope, the blood-thinner dabigatran is shown to protect against stroke, blood clotting and major bleeding as effectively as warfarin, but with fewer side effects. The original paper, Dabigatran versus warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation, by Neal Devaraj and Stuart Connolly et al. in the New England Journal of Medicine, says warfarin (also commonly used in rat poison) has several drawbacks. Finding the correct dosage requires careful and laborious monitoring, and the risk of major bleeding has led to it being under-used. With fewer side-effects...