the author reports the following conflict of interest : investigator for , consultant for , and/or speaker on behalf of sanofi , merck , boehringer ingelheim , janssen , pfizer , bristol myers squibb .
 advances in the therapy of atrial fibrillation ( af ) have not come easily or quickly , despite the recognized need for significantly better antiarrhythmic agents for af termination and prevention as well as for more user - friendly anticoagulants for the prevention of emboli in patients with af . 
 rather , the road has been only slowly progressive and bumpy . 
 this manuscript will introduce the recent issues with dronedarone , the complex development story for vernakalant , and the appearance of the new oral anticoagulants . 
 each of these three considerations will then be explored in more depth by the invited experts for this  mini - thematic issue  in current cardiology reviews . 
CONFLICT OF INTEREST