* UNC and Rensselaer
scientists have created a synthetic form of low-molecular-weight heparin that
is commonly used in surgeries to prevent blood clots.
* The new heparin is
cleared by the liver instead of by the kidneys.
* The anticoagulant
effects of this new heparin can be fully reversed with an existing drug should
a patient experience bleeding,
* The research team
was led by Jian Liu, PhD, and Robert Lindhardt, PhD.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have created a synthetic form of
low-molecular-weight heparin that can be reversed if things go wrong and would
be safer for patients with poor kidney function.
“When doctors talk to me about the kind of heparin they want
to use during and after surgery, they want it reversible, and they want it to
not go through the kidneys,” says Jian Liu, PhD, one of the inventors of the
new drug.