Warfarin is a medication (sold under brand names such as Coumarin, Panwarfin, and Sofarin) used to prevent blood clots and treat conditions of excessively thick blood. It also reduces the risk of strokes or heart attacks caused by clots. Warfarin functions by inhibiting the formation of certain clotting factors, thus preventing blood clotting. It interacts with numerous other medications, including some vitamins, and these interactions can be dangerous, even life-threatening. If you are on Warfarin, consult your doctor before using any other prescription or over-the-counter drugs.Professor Karl Paul Link from the University of Wisconsin and his team were the first to isolate dicoumarin, a compound found in spoiled sweet clover that caused cattle to bleed excessively and die. This discovery led to the creation of Dicumarol, the first oral anticoagulant. Warfarin, which followed Dicumarol, was named after the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), to which Professor Link assigned the patent. Initially marketed as a rodenticide, Warfarin was successful in exterminating rats and mice by causing them to bleed to death. It later became the most commonly prescribed anticoagulant for humans, saving countless lives.
