A Hadassah-University of Pennsylvania research team has developed a peptide that could save the lives and improve the treatment of people stricken with ischemic strokes. Their findings, published recently in the prestigious medical journal, Nature Neuroscience, indicate they have found a way to bypass the serious side effects of the thrombolytic agent tPA, a medication that dissolves clotting.
For over 50 years, doctors and scientists have known that the body’s tPA (tissue-type plasminogen activator) has the natural ability to dissolve blood clots. However, in the vast majority of stroke victims, 97 percent, it also causes acute cranial hemorrhaging. Pharmaceutical companies have replicated tPA to augment the body's natural supply, but they have been unable to eliminate its dangerous side effects or give it a longer therapeutic window. Currently, only about three percent of stroke victims can receive tPA, the only FDA-approved treatment for acute ischemic stroke.
Prof. Abd Al-Roof Higazi , and colleagues from the Hadassah University Medical Center’s Department of Clinical Biochemistry, and a team led by Prof. Douglas B Cines of the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine developed the peptide. The article that appeared on August 27 described how they had modified tPA’s function using a peptide that can bind to tPA, change its structure and significantly decrease its side effects. The peptide treated tPA preserves tissue viability after traumatic brain injury and stroke without inhibiting tPA’s clotting activity and provides a longer therapeutic window.
An editorial commenting on the Hadassah-University of Pennsylvania team's findings that appeared in another prestigious medical journal, Nature Medicine, concluded: “If these results are extended to humans, they could usher in a new era of thrombolytic therapy for stroke, which is the leading cause of disability in the world and the third leading cause in the United States after cancer and heart disease.”
Prof. Higazi is the Chief Scientific Officer of Thrombotec Ltd., a start-up company of Hadasit, the technology transfer company of the Hadassah Medical Organization, which owns the patents for both the stroke and heart attack treatment involving the peptide-treated tPA. Thrombotec Ltd is included in the portfolio of Hadasit Bio-Holdings Ltd. (HDST) that was floated on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange last December.
Thrombotec is involved in advanced negotiations with a strategic partner that has designated its potential investment to enhancing the development of the peptide in preparation for clinical trials. Thrombotec has already signed an agreement with a Belgium company to manufacture the peptide.
The researchers have successfully tested their findings on animal models. After completing toxicology tests, they will request permission to conduct clinical trials, which they anticipate will begin within one to two years.
More than 750,000 Americans suffer strokes and about 150,000 die each year. About $51 billion is spent on treatment and rehabilitation annually. In Israel, 15,000 people suffer stroke every year and 1,200 die.
For further information contact:
Dr. Rafi Hofstein, CEO, Hadasit – 972-2-6778757
Ophir Shahaf, Associate Dir. Gen., Hadasit Bio-Holdings Ltd. –
972-54-5201177
Prof. Abd Al-Roof Higazi – 972-2-6776673
Yael Bossem-Levy, Hadassah spokesperson – 972-50-5280597