New stroke treatment shows promise

There is currently only one drug approved for the condition, TPA, although it is only prescribed to a small fraction of patients and can also cause harmful side effects.

The new experimental treatment is a form of a medication, Activated Protein C (APC) or Xigris that doctors use to treat sepsis.

The study of APC comes a week after a major pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca, said that its stroke drug, NXY-059 had failed – the latest disappointment in a field where more than 100 treatments have been tested and failed since TPA was approved in 1996.

TPA is not used widely for a variety of reasons. Currently, patients must receive the drug within three hours of the onset of symptoms, and it’s rare for patients to get to the hospital in time. APC offers a potential way to temper the side effects of TPA and to increase the treatment “window” beyond three hours. Research has shown that APC counters a great deal of the damage caused by stroke, saving most of the brain cells that otherwise die and reducing the impact of stroke by 70%.

Recent published reports show that the protective effect of APC extends even further than has been thought. TPA can cause harmful bleeding in the brain, by breaking down the barrier of cells that line the arteries and veins that act as a gatekeeper. APC blocks the cascade of chemical signaling that enables TPA to disable the blood-brain barrier.

“We’re looking for a medication that does not increase the risk of bleeding, that does not kill brain cells, and that can be used for a period of time longer than just a few hours after stroke. We’re hopeful that APC fits those criteria,” said Curtis Benesch, director of the Strong Stroke Center.

The new study will focus on the safety of the drug when used to treat stroke patients. In addition to monitoring patients’ safety, doctors will do preliminary analysis of how well the drug works.