Heparin History

The modern pharmaceutical introduces new drugs frequently, as medical science continues to make improvements on older medications and find new ways to combat any number of maladies. These new medications must undergo rigorous FDA testing before being deemed safe for human use. In the case of the prescription medication heparin, the FDA didn't exist when it was first prescribed to prevent potentially harmful blood clots from forming.

Early Days

• Jay McLean was a budding med student at John Hopkins University in 1916, working under the supervision of William H. Howell, who was studying the effects of anticoagulant agents on blood clots. McLean discovered some positive effects of an isolated fat-soluble anticoagulant derived from the liver cells of laboratory dogs. Two years and many studies later, Howell named McLean's discovery "heparin," the Greek word for liver.

Continued Research

• Howell himself found success by building on his former student's work. Around 1920, Howell isolated a water-soluble anticoagulant that he also decided to name heparin, although each version was distinctly different from the others. Ten years later, Swedish researcher Erik Jorpes of the famed Karolinska Institutet began exhaustive research into heparin, publishing the results of his findings in 1935. Swedish drug company Vitrum AB began manufacturing heparin for intravenous use a year later.

Human Use

• Around the same time the Swedes were marketing heparin, Canadian scientists from Toronto's Connaught Labs perfected the heparin recipe, making their non-toxic version safe for patients via a saline solution. By comparison, the Swedish heparin was toxic and expensive. By 1937, the Canadians received the nod for human use, as clinically conducted trials were highly successful and showed the new heparin's effectiveness in preventing blood clots in patients.

Uses

• Since its acceptance in the late 1930s, heparin's anticoagulant properties have been used to treat a variety of ailments. Soft tissue injuries from work or sport are sometimes treated with a topical heparin-based gel that helps reduce inflammation. Blood oxygenators in lung machines are often coated with heparin to promote overall homeostasis.

Complications

• Like many medications, heparin is not without its share of controversy. In 2006, the FDA recalled several heparin shipments that contained the harmful bacteria Serratia marcescens. Earlier that year, movie star Dennis Quaid received a large settlement from Cedar Sinai Med Center when the actor's twin infants were given adult dosages of the drug. His twins survived, but another set of twins in Texas died after being given the improper dosage of Heparin.