Abstract
Platelets play an important role in atherothrombotic disease. The currently available antiplatelet drugs target key steps of platelet activation including thromboxane A2 synthesis, ADP-mediated signaling, and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa-mediated platelet aggregation. The improvement of our understanding on the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characteristics of these drugs enables the tailoring of the most appropriate anti-thrombotic therapy to the individual patient and risk situation in the daily clinical practice. However, current antiplatelet therapies are associated with increased bleeding risk. Thus, further research on platelet functions may give rise to numerous new antiplatelet agents with high anti-thrombotic efficiency and low adverse hemorrhagic side effects.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.