Next generation anti-thrombotics

A research team involving Dr Richard Foster and Professor Colin Fishwick have received a £3M award from the Wellcome Trust.

The award was given to discover new inhibitors of blood-clotting enzymes as antithrombotic therapeutics.

This major award, a Strategic Drug Discovery Initiative (SDDI), is the first of its kind to be awarded at the University of Leeds.

Development of blood clots (thrombosis) is the most common cause of mortality, and is responsible for at least 1 in every 3 deaths in the Western World. Previous work within the School of Chemistry, had identified a series of ‘hit’ molecules which display promising anti-thrombotic activity and which now form the starting point of this substantial award.

Richard Foster explains: “Current treatments for thrombosis all suffer from harmful side-effects, particularly unwanted bleeding. Together with our biological colleagues here at Leeds and with our outsourcing partner, this major grant puts us into an excellent position to develop truly effective and safe alternative treatments.”