Heparin News and Research

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Heparin, a highly-sulfated glycosaminoglycan, is widely used as an injectable anticoagulant, and has the highest negative charge density of any known biological molecule. It can also be used to form an inner anticoagulant surface on various experimental and medical devices such as test tubes and renal dialysis machines. Pharmaceutical grade heparin is derived from mucosal tissues of slaughtered meat animals such as porcine (pig) intestine or bovine (cow) lung.

New evidence-based blood clot guidelines for pregnant women

New evidence-based guidelines address the prevention and management of thrombosis in key patient populations and reinforce recommendations related to the routine use of preventive therapies.

24 Jun 2008

Alchemia granted first two patents in the "Synthetic Heparin Oligosaccharide" family of patents

Alchemia Ltd. has announced the granting of the first two patents in the "Synthetic Heparin Oligosaccharide" family of patents.

23 Jun 2008

Death rate linked to comtaminated heparin almost doubles

The drug watchdog in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have updated the number of deaths in patients who took the drug heparin.

17 Jun 2008

Bush Administration requests $275 million increase for FDA in FY 2009 budget

The Bush Administration on Monday requested that Congress allocate an additional $275 million in fiscal year 2009 for FDA, the New York Times reports. The funds would be used to improve drug and food safety in the U.S. (Harris, New York Times, 6/10).

11 Jun 2008

Latest drug scare in China sees six dead

In the last 10 days six people have died in east China's Jiangxi province after being injected with human immunoglobulin at a hospital in the provincial capital Nanchang.

3 Jun 2008

Less than 1 in 5 patients receive treatment to prevent venous thrombosis after surgery

Fewer than 1 in 5 patients received post-discharge therapy to prevent life-threatening blood clots - venous thrombosis - after hip- or knee-replacement surgery, report Rahme and colleagues in a retrospective cohort study. Venous thrombosis is one of the leading causes of death among hospital patients. However, elderly patients have a 70% lower chance of dying within 3 months if they take an anticoagulant drug to prevent blood clots.

2 Jun 2008

Avoiding spleen removal for Cooley's anemia sufferers

Researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College may have discovered the precise role of a gene in one of the world's most common blood disorders, beta-thalassemia, commonly known as Cooley's anemia. Along with sickle-cell anemia, Cooley's anemia is the most commonly inherited disease in the world, affecting many people of Mediterranean descent, and 20 out of every 100,000 African-Americans. The World Health Organization estimates that between 50,000-100,000 children are born with the disease each year.

27 May 2008

Bivalirudin improves net clinical outcomes and increases survival in heart attack patients

A study led by Gregg W. Stone, M.D., professor of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian and chairman of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, has shown that heart attack patients who were administered the direct thrombin inhibitor bivalirudin during primary angioplasty had a reduced rate of adverse clinical events, a lower rate of major bleeding, and a lower mortality rate than those who were treated with a regimen of heparin and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GPI).

26 May 2008

FDA needs additional $225 million, new authority to inspect foreign facilities to protect U.S. residents from unsafe prescription drug imports, agency officials say

FDA officials on Tuesday said the agency would need at least $225 million in additional funding annually, along with other authoritative powers, to adequately inspect the safety of imported drug products, the Baltimore Sun reports.

30 Apr 2008

FDA cannot properly inspect foreign companies that manufacture medications, medication ingredients, report finds

FDA does not have adequate resources to inspect foreign companies that manufacture medications or medication ingredients, and current funding levels for the agency will not address the issue, according to a Government Accountability Office report presented on Tuesday at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, the Newark Star-Ledger reports.

23 Apr 2008

Researchers unravel heparin death mystery

An international team of researchers led by MIT has explained how contaminated batches of the blood-thinner heparin were able to slip past traditional safety screens and kill dozens of patients recently in the United States and Germany.

23 Apr 2008

U.S. and China at loggerheads over contaminated Heparin

Health officials in the U.S. appear to be at loggerheads with Chinese officials over the contamination of the blood-thinning drug Heparin.

22 Apr 2008

Heparin versus placebo for acute coronary syndromes

Compared with those on placebos, giving heparin to people who have heart conditions like unstable angina and some forms of heart attack reduces the risk of having another heart attack, concluded a Cochrane Systematic Review.

17 Apr 2008

Protein sulfatase 2 a possible treatment target for liver cancer recurrence and survival

Deadly and difficult to treat, liver cancer has long resisted attempts by researchers to develop ways to prolong life and prevent recurrence.

11 Apr 2008

Study looks at use of powerful anticoagulants to prevent pulmonary embolism

Current US guidelines for the prescription of potent anticoagulants by surgeons who perform joint replacement operations could be doing patients more harm than good, according to Dr. Nigel Sharrock and his team from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

1 Apr 2008

Damaged veins heal faster with heparin treatment, laboratory study finds

A commonly used medication that prevents blood clots from forming may also prevent existing clots from damaging delicate vein walls and may accelerate healing in a clot-damaged area of vein wall, according to new research from the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center.

14 Mar 2008

Is deep-vein thrombosis lurking in your legs?

They kill 300,000 people a year - but most of them could be prevented. They strike more than a million people every year, most of them out of the blue - and half without causing symptoms.

14 Mar 2008

Heparin shortage, infusion therapy firm intros MaxPlusClear

Maximus, a business unit of leading infusion therapy firm Medegen Inc., has introduced its MaxPlus Clear positive displacement connector for use in patient care.

10 Mar 2008

Problems with blood thinning drug could originate in China

Following a warning from the the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that it had received reports of 4 deaths and over 300 incidents of health problems associated with a blood thinning drug, it has now been revealed that U.S. regulators never inspected the Chinese plant that makes Baxter International's heparin.

14 Feb 2008

Warning about deaths and serious reactions linked to blood thinning drug heparin

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States says the production of a popular blood thinning drug has been halted temporarily after more than 300 reports of health problems associated with the drug.

13 Feb 2008