Anti-Clotting Drug Improved

A clot-destroying drug that interrupts heart attacks has been redesigned to work longer, which might reduce the risk of a second heart attack after treatment, researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center reported last week in the British journal Nature.

In test tube experiments, researchers found that an altered version of a drug called tissue plasminogen activator remained largely potent when exposed to substances in blood that deactivate the current form of the drug.

Most heart attacks occur when a clot plugs an artery that feeds blood to part of the heart muscle. Tissue plasminogen activator, called TPA, can stop an attack by dissolving the clot.

Some patients who get TPA therapy develop another clot after the treatment stops, however, putting them at risk of another heart attack.