Science Questions

Could the dragon venom be used as an anticoagulant for humans in small doses? Troy McLuhan

Chris - Well the answer is Troy—yes, people are very interested in this very question, and also from borrowing from biology using the venoms from other creatures that have anticoagulant properties. For instance, people are looking at the genes that come out of leeches. They’ve got a drug now called Hirudin which is a protein that stops blood coagulating by stealing what leeches use. This same thing could be used because we are always looking for ways to thin blood in a slightly less damaging way than using things like Warfarin, which does have side effects. So I suspect that there are certainly scientists right now who are looking at that very question.

May 2009