Today NRW Science Minster Svenja Schulze has awarded in Bochum the "Invent the future NRW" prize to Prof. Dr. Bernd Pötzsch, Prof. Dr. Günter Mayer and Dr. Jens Müller from the University of Bonn for their invention of an agent which can temporarily annul the effectiveness of anticoagulant agents.

The three scientists from Bonn received the award in the category of Life Sciences for their invention "universal antidote against all direct thrombin inhibitors".

Direct acting thrombin inhibitor, such as dabigatran and argatroban are successfully used for the prevention and treatment of thromboembolic disorders. Even though clinical studies demonstrate an improved efficacy-to-safety index of dabigatran, as with all other anticoagulants bleeding is still a problem. In the absence of a specific antidote major bleeding complications including life-threatening haemorrhage and urgent surgical interventions are difficult to manage.

The present invention provides a safe DTI-antidote able to antagonize the anticoagulant functions of various DTI, such as dabigatran, hirudin, bivalirudin and argatroban.

The exosite structures of thrombin are blocked by complex formation between thrombin and a recently developed aptamer (Müller et al. 2007). As this aptamer does not block the active center of thrombin, the aptamer caged thrombin (Apta-thrombin) retains full reactivity towards DTI but looses its procoagulant functions. This is an important prerequisite to avoid unwanted thrombotic site effects of the DTI antidote.