Hirudin hirudin. Hirudin Hirudin is a naturally occurring peptide in the salivary glands of blood-sucking leeches (such as "Hirudo medicinalis") that has a blood anticoagulant property. This is fundamental for the leeches’ alimentary habit of hematophagy, since it keeps the blood flowing after the initial phlebotomy performed by the worm on the host’s skin. During his years in Birmingham and Edinburgh, John Berry Haycraft had been actively engaged in research and published papers on the coagulation of blood, and in 1884, he discovered that the leech secreted a powerful anticoagulant, which he named hirudin, although it was not isolated until the
Venoms in medicine pharmacology) or target directed assays to identify their biological target and mechanism of action (reverse pharmacology). In this way, toxic venomous poisons may be a starting point for a therapeutic drug. Venoms are naturally occurring substances that organisms evolved to deploy against other organisms, in defense or attack. They are often mixtures of proteins that act together or singly to attack their specific targets within the organism against which they are used, generally with high specificity and generally easily accessible through the vascular system. This has made venoms a subject of study for people who work in drug discovery. With