Warfarin pharmacological response

Structural features that promote biological activity are sometimes called biophores. They are divisible into pharmacophores and toxicophores. Pharmacophores impart desirable properties on a molecule (e.g., pharmacological activity or a particular fragrance). Toxicophores are responsible for undesirable effects such as toxicity (e.g., mutagenicity and skin sensitization). The same molecule can have more than one descriptor that can act as both a pharmacophore and a toxicophore in the same or different biological systems. Examples here are the toxic side effects of anti-cancer drugs and the use of Warfarin, a commercially available rat poison, to help reduce the formation of blood clots in human heart disease. 

Overall, the findings of these pharmacological studies in patients and healthy subjects confirm the general clinical experience that the effects of the coumarin anticoagulants are not normally altered hy the beta blockers. No special precautions are needed on concurrent use. The only uncertainty is with propranolol, which has shown a small rise in warfarin levels in two studies, and for which there are a couple of reports of possible increased anticoagulant responses of warfarin and phenindione. Even so, a clinically significant interaction would seem to be extremely rare. 

---