New drug helps to preserve brain cells for a time after stroke

[Judi Lynn]

Date:
February 20, 2020
Source:
University of Calgary
Summary:
After 50 years of research and the testing of over 1,000 drugs, there is new hope for preserving brain cells for a time after stroke. Treating acute ischemic stroke patients with an experimental neuroprotective drug, combined with a surgical procedure to remove the clot improves outcomes as shown by clinical trial results.


After 50 years of research and the testing of over 1,000 drugs, there is new hope for preserving brain cells for a time after stroke. Treating acute ischemic stroke patients with an experimental neuroprotective drug, combined with a surgical procedure to remove the clot improves outcomes as shown by clinical trial results published today in The Lancet.

The multi-centre, double-blinded, randomized trial, led by a team at the Cumming School of Medicine's (CSM) Hotchkiss Brain Institute and Alberta Health Services, investigates the use of the neuroprotective drug nerinetide, developed by NoNO Inc, in two scenarios in the same trial. In one scenario, nerinetide is given to patients in addition to the clot-busting drug alteplase. In the second scenario, patients who were not suitable for alteplase received only nerinetide. Both groups of patients had concurrent endovascular treatment (EVT) to remove the clot.

"Compared to placebo, almost 20 per cent more patients who received nerinetide along with endovascular treatment, but did not receive alteplase, recovered from a devastating stroke -- a difference between paralysis and walking out of the hospital," says Dr. Michael Hill, MD, a neurologist at Foothills Medical Centre (FMC) and professor in the departments of Clinical Neurosciences and Radiology at the CSM. "In the patients who received both drugs, the alteplase negated the benefits of the nerinetide."

Hill says the study provides evidence of a biological pathway that protects brain cells from dying when they are deprived of blood flow. Nerinetide targets the final stage of the brain cell's life by stopping the production of nitric oxide within the cell.

More:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200220154903.htm

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Wow. This could be a wonder drug. I have experienced recently the horror of stroke in my ...

family and it's painful to see the results of the stroke upon one's loved ones (two family members). If they can salvage any of the surviving brain cells, perhaps this will save memories, abilities to do things that will no longer require extensive rehab therapies (to relearn walking, etc.), etc. I would think that any level of success in reclaiming or preserving even a small percentage of brain cells could be literally a life saver.