Scientists have just discovered that the drug dimethylfumarate can block blood clotting during infection, offering hope that it could be used to treat a number of conditions, such a life-threatening disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC), which can occur in serious infections with bacteria that lead to sepsis or in response to viral infections such as COVID-19. Dr. Tristram Ryan and Professor Luke O'Neill describe how dimethylfumarate and a related experimental drug called 4-OI can stop coagulation by decreasing production of a clotting factor called Tissue Factor. They have shown that the mechanism involves a block in proteins called interferons, which promote...