‘Game-changing’ trial stroke drug, first development in 20 years

Australian researchers will soon begin human trials of a potentially game-changing drug that treats strokes, marking the first major development in treatment in more than twenty years.

Australian researchers will soon begin human trials of a potentially game-changing drug that treats strokes by preventing life-­threatening bleeding linked to current clot-busting medication, marking the first major development in treatment in more than 20 years.

A team at the Heart Research Institute, led by director of cardiovascular research Shaun Jackson, has developed the new medication, called AZD6482, over the course of 25 years, to treat ischaemic strokes, which account for 90 per cent of strokes caused by blood clots.

Professor Jackson said this new treatment, which had been the “holy grail” of stroke researchers for decades, works in partnership with medication currently available called tPA, the only ­effective treatment for 10 per cent of stroke victims.

“Despite decades of research, we only have one treatment that dissolves those clots – tPA,” he said. “And in less than half the population we give it to does it dissolve the clot; for a lot of people, it comes back.

“That has kind of been the holy grail and what AZD6482 does is that it works really well with tPA.

“That is what we’re going to trial early next year - give it with tPA so it will improve the blood flow to the brain and reduce brain injury in the stroke.”

Professor Jackson said the new drug worked a little like common blood-thinners such as aspirin, which were often used to treat heart attacks, but without the potentially devastating risk of excessive bleeding that can cause further brain damage.

“It targets the platelets – it’s like aspirin but better and it doesn’t cause the same bleeding side effects,” he said. “Platelets are a big problem when you give tPA and it causes difficulty with clotting or the clots reform, so our drug prevents that problem.”

Professor Jackson said the drug had potentially life-changing implications, after promising results from early human trials showed the drug was well tolerated. His team is now preparing for phase two trials in real stroke sufferers, which will be carried out in five hospitals from early next year.

“Stroke is the second leading cause of death in the world and the vast majority of people don‘t have good treatments at all,” he said. “It is very different from heart attacks, where we have lots of options. Part of the problem is we don’t have drugs that stop bleeding, so basically half those patients will die if they have a bleed on the brain.

“But it‘s so difficult to do this safely and not cause life-threatening bleeding on the brain.”

Professor Jackson said he held out hope that despite the long road to develop a new drug, after more than 1000 clinical trials failed to find a better treatment globally, investments in research could have a major impact in saving lives. “Since we started 25 years ago, there have been a lot of trials to try and improve on tPA and nothing has been shown to be safe yet,” he said.

“We’ve finally got the funding we require to do the study. The ­really strong message is how important funding research is.

“It’s a long journey, it’s expensive but the impact, if you get it right, can be really profound.”

Jake Vincent who suffered two strokes before he turned 22 has first-hand experience of current stroke treatment options. Picture: Supplied.