Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Heparin may serve as a very inexpensive and effective new treatment for septic shock, according to Canada.com.

Septic shock is a serious condition that can cause multiple organ failure and death. It is the main cause of mortality in intensive care units (ICU), with a mortality rate of up to 40 percent.

There is only one drug other than antibiotics approved to treat septic shock, and that drug costs about $10,000 per patient. But two Canadian intensive care physicians, Dr. Ryan Zarychanski and Dr. Anand Kumar, who studied the effect of the blood thinner heparin on ICU patients between 1989 and 2005, found that patients with severe sepsis who were given heparin lowered their risk of death by 30 percent. Heparin, a generic drug, costs less than $10.

The research involved nearly 1,400 Winnipeg ICU patients with septic shock. Six hundred and ninety-five of the patients received heparin for suspected heart attacks or blood clots. Another 695 did not. The study found that there were 15 percent fewer deaths among patients who had received heparin.

Heparin for the treatment of septic shock is controversial, says Zarychanski, because it refutes the belief that expensive pharmaceuticals are the best treatment option. Thus, companies are unlikely to invest in researching it for other benefits as there is little or no profit in it.

But the safety of drugs, like heparin that is imported into the U.S. from countries like China, still hangs in the balance. It is just as important to find new treatments for less expensive drugs as it is to ensure the safety of all drugs.

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