BACKGROUND Hemorrhage is a frequent event in hospital and prehospital settings. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether centhaquin improves 24-h survival and reduces the total volume of required fluids in an established model of swine hemorrhagic shock. METHODS Twenty-five pigs were instrumented and subjected to hemorrhagic shock. The animals were randomly allocated in two experimental groups, the control (vehicle) (n = 10) and the centhaquin groups (0.015 mg/kg, n = 10); all animals received lactated Ringer solution in the resuscitation phase until their mean arterial pressure reached 90% of the baseline. A sham group (n = 5) was added a posteriori to mimic the hemodynamic profile of the centhaquin group. RESULTS A statistically significant difference was observed in the time required for the three groups to reach their target mean aortic pressure, 36.88 ± 3.26 min for the control group versus 9.40 ± 1.01 min for the sham group and 7.10 ± 0.97 min for the centhaquin group (P < 0.001). The total amount of fluids in the control and the sham groups was significantly higher when compared with that of the centhaquin-treated animals (P < 0.001). All 10 animals in the centhaquin group survived for 24 h, whereas only three animals survived in the control group and one animal in the sham group (P = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS Centhaquin 0.015 mg/kg administered in the fluid resuscitation phase resulted in lower volume of fluids and better survival compared with control and sham-operated animals.