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2026 Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Scholar Award
February 06, 2026
Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals is supporting the development of a new drug called Zalunfiban that helped thousands of heart attack patients avoid complications in clinical trials.
The eventual goal is to allow patients to self-administer the medication at home.
Dr. Barry Coller, the primary inventor of Zalunfiban, said the investigational anti-platelet drug is designed to reduce clot formation during heart attacks.
Currently, 50 percent of heart attack patients die before reaching the hospital with no available treatment.
“The best time to get the medication is as soon as possible after the onset of the symptoms of a heart attack,” Coller said.
The medication helps open arteries and substantially reduces the risk of death, larger heart attacks or strokes.
Through the first three phases of clinical trials, patients received the drug primarily from paramedics in ambulances or in emergency departments upon arrival.
The drug is administered subcutaneously, or under the skin, a delivery method recommended by the Harrington Discovery Institute.
“When you have a heart attack you have poor blood flow, and so oral pills don’t work very well. So the idea was to give him a form of a drug that could be administered effectively in that very narrow window of time before a patient will often die, and the heart can be saved and this was tremendously effective,” said Dr. Jonathan Stamler, co-founder of the Harrington Discovery Institute.
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Cardiovascular, Hematology, Oncology
Rockefeller University
Harrington Scholar-Innovator
November 13, 2025
Positive results of zalunfiban announced at AHA Scientific Sessions Continue Reading