# Synthetic Hemostats for Trauma Treatment

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2020 · $594,791

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Traumatic injuries, such as from road traffic accidents or intentional acts of violence, preferentially affects the
young, claims approximately 5 million lives annually, and accounts for more years of potential life lost in the
United States than cancer or heart disease. Hemorrhage is responsible for 30-40% of trauma-associated
deaths and is the leading cause of the death in the initial 6 hours after injury. Thus, there is a significant need
and potential clinical impact for new technologies that can be used by first responders to manage hemorrhage
in the initial time frame after trauma. This proposal seeks to develop an intravenous synthetic hemostat for
clinical translation for trauma care. The project team includes experts in trauma medicine, bioengineered
materials, structural analysis of soft materials, and animal pathology. We hypothesize that a synthetic
biopolymer that specifically recognizes and crosslinks fibrin, a protein component of clots, will stop bleeding at
wound sites after intravenous injection. In our preliminary work, we have designed an injectable, bioengineered
polymer and demonstrated its ability to integrate in forming clots and significantly improve survival in an animal
model of trauma when injected intravenously after injury. With the ultimate goal of clinical translation for this
material, this project proposes three aims: (i) define the optimal polymer structure and synthesis route, (ii)
evaluate the pharmacokinetics, safety profile and storage stability of the material, and (iii) establish efficacy in
multiple preclinical animal traumatic bleeding models. Upon completion of these aims, the team will be ready
for a pre-IND meeting with the FDA and be within a few years of an IND submission to the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA).

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9982122
- **Project number:** 5R01HL139007-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Suzie H. Pun
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $594,791
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-08-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9982122

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9982122, Synthetic Hemostats for Trauma Treatment (5R01HL139007-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9982122. Licensed CC0.

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