Anti-Clotting Drug Based on Bat Saliva

[Champ]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Stroke victims being treated at a Louisville hospital may benefit from the lessons of the vampire bat.


Researchers at University of Louisville Hospital are studying whether the bats' ability to drink the blood of an animal while preventing the blood from clotting might help control damaging strokes.


An experimental clot-busting drug modeled after bat saliva is being tested at University and 16 other sites.


One of the two study participants, 86-year-old Louis Wright of Beuchel, was introduced during a discussion of the research at the hospital Monday. Wright has improved markedly since his stroke in May.

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