New Bleeding Risk-Free Blood Thinning Medication Developed
Blood clots are the cause of countless
deaths every year, and current anticoagulants (blood-thinning
medications) are considered high-risk drugs and have many serious side
effects, such as an increased risk of internal bleeding and severe
bruising. As a result, a lot of scientific research is focused on
developing better treatments for thrombosis. One such research team has
developed and tested a new medication that may soon become the new
side-effect-free generation of blood-thinners. Learn more about this
medication below.
Thrombosis - Risks and Current Treatments
Blood clotting is an essential bodily
function, one that helps wound-healing and prevents serious bleeding.
However, in some cases, blood clots can form within the blood vessels
themselves, decreasing blood flow to certain areas. This can happen for a
variety of reasons, and once these blood clots form, they can travel to
different organs and parts of the body through the cardiovascular
system and could even cause life-threatening conditions like deep vein
thrombosis, stroke, and heart attack.
In emergency situations like these, doctors will administer a course of
anticoagulant medications to a patient, which will dissolve the blood
clot by thinning out the blood. These medications, such as warfarin or
heparin, for example, are also prescribed to patients who have a higher
risk of developing a life-threatening blood clot. The drawback of these
blood-thinners is, as previously mentioned, that they increase the risk
of heavy bleeding, bruising, and possibly even internal bleeding in
these patients, especially when administered after surgery and in
emergency situations.
Therefore, for years, researchers have been trying to come up with
alternatives to these dangerous drugs, and according to a new study by
researchers from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in
Switzerland, they may have just found a likely candidate.
A New Approach to Blood Thinning Medications
In the article, the scientists present a
new type of anticoagulant that resolves thrombosis more effectively than
other common treatments, but without the associated risk of major
bleeding. This new medication works by preventing the activation of a
group of proteins called coagulation factor XII (FXII), which are the
first step of the blood-clotting process.
Scientists first noticed the potential of this new approach to
blood-thinning when they discovered that some humans naturally lack
FXII. Interestingly, these individuals have a much lower risk of
developing thrombosis, but at the same time, they do not bleed more than
other people. As a result, researchers have designed and perfected a
lab-made inhibitor of FXII called FXII618, which prevents the proteins
from forming and is thus capable of precluding the formation of blood
clots.
Once the molecule was created, the
researchers then moved on to conduct testing on animal models to gauge
the dosage and assess the safety of the medication. After this first
round of testing on mice, abbits, and pigs, the drug was found to be
non-toxic. Further mouse model experiments of thrombosis and a rabbit
model of an artificial lung further revealed that the medication was
indeed 5 times more effective at preventing clotting than heparin, a
common blood thinner, but without any bleeding as a side effect. This
means that the new drug is a superior blood thinner and one that doesn't
cause bleeding. These findings are extremely meaningful, and the
researchers may begin human testing very soon.
In addition to being a good potential
treatment for blood clots, the researchers also see other, no less
impressive potential uses of the drug on other medical conditions
related to FXII, namely Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and
hereditary angioedema. That said, the researchers point out that this
new treatment will not be able to prescribe FXII618 as an at-home
treatment, as doctors need to re-administer the treatment often and it
cannot be taken by mouth.
Therefore, at this time, this new medication will likely be limited to
emergency hospital care, such as bypass surgery. Still, the new
treatment shows a lot of promise and may be the next big step in
thrombosis treatment.