Researchers at Hospital Clínic Barcelona and the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) have shown that administration of a fibrinolytic drug after performing embolectomy in ischaemic stroke patients increases the possibilities of recovering without sequelae by up to 59%. This trial, conducted in 121 patients, marks a turning point in terms of ischaemic stroke treatment, representing 85% of all stroke cases worldwide.
Dr Ángel Chamorro, Head of the Cerebrovascular Pathology Unit at Hospital Clínic and of the Cerebrovascular Disease Research Group at IDIBAPS, has designed and coordinated the study entitled Chemical Optimization of Cerebral Embolectomy (CHOICE). The results were presented at the International Stroke Conference 2022 held from 8-11 February in New Orleans (USA) and published in the scientific journal JAMA.
Dr Chamorro is also the Co-founder and Scientific Director of FreeOx Biotech, a company with two innovative drugs in its pipeline that exhibit neuroprotective properties and a high potential to continue improving ischaemic stroke treatment: Ox-01, which has completed Phase IIb and is ready for Phase III, and Ox-02 which is integrated in a liposome capsule that boosts its effect. Both Ox-01 and Ox-02 are the product of the research conducted over the years at Hospital Clínic and were transferred to FreeOx to accelerate licensing to the pharmaceutical industry and to benefit patients as soon as possible.
The drug used in the CHOICE trial is already used today for stroke treatment and acts by enhancing the dissolution of clots and helping to restore blood flow. Future approval of innovative medicines such as Ox-01 and Ox-02 could even further improve these clinical results because their mechanism of action would act synergistically in preventing clot formation.
In important subgroups of ischaemic stroke patients, Ox-01 has shown up to a 20% absolute benefit of being permanently free of sequelae after the disease compared with the placebo, and Ox-02 is expected to surpass this figure.
Photo: From left to right, Josefina Castro, director of ICN; Ángel Chamorro, Head of the Cerebrovascular Pathology Unit; Arturo Renú, neurologist of the Cerebrovascular Pathology Unit, and Maria Barranco, patient from the study – © Francisco Avia
See the Dr Ángel Chamorro interview at LINNC TV, the online reference source for the neurology community:
