The Miracle Drug Heparin

Before 1937, blood clots were a dreaded, often fatal, complication of both injuries and childbirth. Between 1933 and 1937, numerous grants from The Banting Research Foundation were awarded to investigators searching for an anticoagulant. Their perseverance resulted in the purification and clinical use of the drug heparin that attacks life-threatening clots in the bloodstream and also permits the circulation of blood through artificial tubing. In North America alone, heparin is used in more than 350,000 open-heart operations and more than 60 million kidney dialysis procedures each year, often using the artificial kidney developed by Dr. Murray.