News - Hypertension Week of Feb. 23, 2003/ Vol. 2 No. 08

Study: Drug Widens Treatment Window for Stroke

The window for treating stroke patients could be widened considerably with recent findings that a drug normally used in angioplasty patients to prevent blood clots is effective against stroke.

Currently, the only approved medical therapy available for stroke patients in the United States must be given to patients no later than three hours from the onset of stroke. An estimated 90 percent of stroke patients do not currently reach a hospital in time to receive that treatment.

In a presentation Feb. 15th at the American Stroke Association's 28th International Stroke Conference, researchers found that doctors could administer the drug ReoPro (abciximab) to stroke patients as long as six hours after the onset of stroke.

Although more of the patients taking ReoPro had bleeding in the brain than with a placebo (3.6 percent versus 1 percent), the researchers reported that none of these bleeding episodes was fatal.

Overall, the researchers reported a trend toward fewer deaths at three months (9.0 percent vs. 12.5 percent) and better neurological recovery in patients treated with ReoPro than with a placebo.

ReoPro was developed by Centocor of Malvern, Pa. Eli Lilly and Company markets and distributes ReoPro worldwide except Japan. A large Phase III trial is planned to confirm the findings in this study.

Other sources: Centocor