Current developments for the oral delivery of heparin

Anticoagulant therapy is widely used for the treatment and prophylaxis of deep vein thrombosis and coronary syndromes. Until now, drugs such as unfractionated heparin and low molecular weight heparins need to be administered parenterally. Parenteral administration results in lower patient compliance compared to oral therapy and for this reason, the focus of various research groups is to develop an oral heparin formulation which is as effective as the parenteral formulation, easy to use and non-toxic. In the last few years, some new oral anticoagulants like Rivaroxaban (Xarelto(®)), Apixaban (Eliquis(®)) and Dabigatranetexilat (Pradaxa(®)) have reached the market, but their use is limited to certain indications. Therefore, the development of oral formulations with well-established anti-coagulant drugs is still relevant and in demand. In this paper, we reviewed strategies that have been developed so far to achieve an adequate anticoagulant effect using oral formulations of unfractionated and low molecular weight heparins.