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 1950s,
Peptide T peptide T as a treatment for HIV/AIDS and Alzheimer's Disease and sues the FDA over their efforts to limit his ability to use Peptide T, as it was an unapproved medicine. Additional information on Woodroof's court challenge to the FDA related to his obtaining access to Peptide T can be found in the article by Marsha Cohen in Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly (vol.18:471) Cohen, 1991. Woodroof's challenge was in part responsible for the 1987 revisions to the FDA investigational drug regulations that expanded access to experimental drugs for patients with serious diseases with no alternative therapies. Peptide T Peptide T