An article covering the use of Protein C for treatment of septic shock. Human Protein C was first cloned by Jorge Plutzky, a student in the Crabtree laboratory, who is now Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard. Protein C is a critical regulator of both the innate immune response and the coagulation pathway. Jerry became interested in it because of its genetically dominant role in human disease. Scientist at Eli Lilly used the clone isolated in the Crabtree laboratory and developed Protein C to a useful drug and demonstrated its effectiveness in treatment of septic shock. It was FDA approved in 2002. It is now the only effective therapy for this disorder and reported to save 50,000 lives per year by Lilly’s CEO, Sidney Taurel. Associated New York Times article.
Lilly Reports Sepsis Drug Passes Advanced Trials