New hope for stroke drug
Wednesday February 22nd, 2012
A powerful new drug against stroke has been discovered in Denmark, it was announced last night.
The drug may prove to be a thousand times as effective as existing treatments, it is claimed.
So far it has only been tested on laboratory animals.
Developers say it can stop the chain reaction that follows a stroke and leads to death of brain cells.
The research, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests the compound can reduce the dead area of the brain following the illness by 40 per cent.
The scientists at Copenhagen University are among researchers studying the interaction between the NMDA receptor and the intracellular protein PSD-95.
Researcher Anders Bach said: "We can show that our compound is far more biologically effective than the potential drug currently being tested in clinical trials.
"Other scientists have shown interest in the same area – one group has developed a particularly interesting compound that is currently undergoing clinical development. However, we have reconsidered the design of the compounds in this area and come up with a new one that is more effective."
He added: "Although we are very satisfied with the new results in terms of the possible treatment of brain damage due to stroke, many things can go wrong in the long drug development process.
"So even though the compound binds effectively in laboratory studies and shows promising biological activity in animal models, we will still have many challenges to overcome."
Tags: Brain & Neurology | Europe | Heart Health | Pharmaceuticals
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