lepirudin lepirudin lepirudin is an anticoagulant that functions as a direct thrombin inhibitor. lepirudinclinical datatrade namesrefludanahfs/drugs.commonographroutes ofadministrationsq or ivatc codeb01ae02 (who) legal statuslegal status us: ℞-only pharmacokinetic databioavailability100elimination half-life~1.3 hoursexcretionrenalidentifiers iupac name -63-desulfohirudin cas number138068-37-8 yiuphar/bps6469drugbankdb00001 nchemspidernoneuniiy43gf64r34keggd03692 ychebichebi:142437chemblchembl1201666 ncomptox dashboard (epa)dtxsid50160461 chemical and physical dataformulac288h448n80o110s6molar mass6983.56 g·mol−1 ny (what is this?) (verify) brand name: refludan, generic: lepirudin rdna for injection. lepirudin is a recombinant hirudin derived from yeast cells. lepirudin is almost identical to hirudin extracted from hirudo medicinalis, having the amino acid sequence ltytdctesgqnlclcegsnvcgqgnkcilgsdgeknqcvtgegtpkpqshndgdfeeipeeylq with disulfide bridges at cys6-cys14, cys16-cys28 and cys22-cys39, and differs from by the substitution of leucine for isoleucine at the n-terminal end of the molecule and the absence of a sulfate group on the tyrosine at position 63. lepirudin may be used as an anticoagulant when heparins (unfractionated or low-molecular-weight) are contraindicated because of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. market withdrawal bayer announced that it ceased the production of lepirudin (refludan) on may 31, 2012. at the time of the announcement, the company expected that supply from wholesalers was going to be depleted by mid-2013.