Latest Heparin Stories

The Joint Commission on Wednesday ordered new tougher restrictions on the use of blood thinners including heparin. The regulatory group said new measures may include bar-coding technology or computerized drug orders. Additionally, it called for tighter control on blood-thinning drugs and for hospitals to make sure that no adult-strength blood thinners were stored anywhere near children's units.The use of heparin has led to many mistakes and several deaths among patients. The commission found...

PolyMedix, Inc. (OTC BB: PYMX, http://polymedix.com), an emerging biotechnology company developing new therapeutic drug products to treat infectious diseases and acute cardiovascular disorders based on biomimetics, has initiated dosing and commenced a Phase I clinical study in the U.S. with its anticoagulant reversing agent PMX-60056 under an Investigational New Drug application (IND) filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). PMX-60056 represents an entirely new class of drug,...

The government yesterday began posting a list of prescription drugs under investigation for potential safety problems, in an effort to better inform doctors and patients. The first list is a bare-bones compilation naming 20 medications and the potential issue for each. It provides no indication of how widespread or serious the problems might be. This has led some consumer advocates to question its usefulness and prompted industry worries that skittish patients might stop taking a useful...

The Medicines Company (NASDAQ:MDCO) today announced the presentation of a new analysis of data from the HORIZONS-AMI trial demonstrating that major bleeding contributes to more deaths at 30 days than repeat heart attack, or re-infarction, in severe heart attack patients treated with angioplasty. This analysis of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients was presented at the European Society of Cardiology meeting in Munich, Germany. "The new analysis from HORIZONS-AMI reveals that...

Japan-based pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo Company has announced positive data from the clinical study of DU-176b, an oral anticoagulant that directly inhibits Factor Xa, a clotting factor in the blood. The data showed that DU-176b reduced the incidence of venous thromboembolism compared with dalteparin among patients undergoing elective unilateral hip replacement surgery. There was a statistically significant dose response in efficacy (P

MUNICH, Germany, Sept. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Regado Biosciences, Inc. announced today the presentation of comprehensive results from Phase Ia, Ib and Ic studies of the Company's REG1 Anticoagulation System at the European Society of Cardiology's Congress 2008, currently being held in Munich, Germany. REG1 is a two-component system composed of an aptamer-based anticoagulant, RB006, and its matched, active reversal agent, RB007, which binds to and neutralizes RB006. Results from the three Phase...

By Fareed, J Iqbal, O; Cunanan, J; Demir, M; Wahi, R; Clarke, M; Adiguzel, C; Bick, R The conventional management of thrombotic and cardiovascular disorders is based on the use of heparin, oral anticoagulants and aspirin. Despite progress in the sciences, these drugs still remain a challenge and mystery. The development of low molecular weight heparins (LMWHS) and the synthesis of heparinomimetics represent a refined use of heparin. Additional drugs will continue to develop. However, none of...

Larger amounts of fully synthetic heparin could be ready for use in patients in 5 yearsRobert Linhardt has spent years stitching together minuscule carbohydrates to build a more pure and safer alternative to the commonly used and controversial blood thinner heparin. At the national conference of the American Chemical Society on August 17, 2008, Linhardt announced that his research team may have accomplished this task by building the first fully synthetic heparin. Their creation is the largest...

Maximus, a business unit of leading infusion therapy firm Medegen Inc., today announced that as a result of a Co-Marketing Agreement between C.R. Bard and Medegen Inc., the MaxPlus(R) Clear(TM) needleless access connector will now be included in peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) kits sold by Bard Access Systems. The agreement provides the extra benefits of the MaxPlus Clear product to users of Bard PowerPICC SOLO*, the newly launched PICC designed to provide the efficiency of...

SAN CARLOS, Calif., Aug. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nuvelo, Inc. today announced positive results from the Phase 1b proof-of-concept trial of NU172, demonstrating that the direct thrombin inhibitor rapidly produced and maintained anticoagulation with a rapid return toward baseline after the infusion ended with a favorable safety profile. "NU172 has the potential to address many of the limitations of currently available anticoagulants given the profile we have seen to date in preclinical...