MIAMI – Studies are underway into a new single injection clot busting medication for patients who suffer clot based strokes.
Dr. Dileep Yavagal, a neurologist with UHealth, said the drug tenecteplase is a genetically modified version of the current medication alteplase.
So far, tenecteplase has shown to have half as many serious complications involving bleeding into the brain.
“That really is a very encouraging result and it is setting up the stage for direct comparison. This is what’s called a registry comparison, but a more direct comparison is done in phase 3 trials that are large clinical studies where patients are randomized to the two medications and those are being conducted to really prove this more definitively,” Yavagal said.
Tenecteplase is currently FDA approved to treat heart attacks.
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have identified antibodies that may help explain why some people with COVID suffer from severe clotting.
The researchers found that the ‘rogue’ antibodies were more common among people with autoimmune disorders such as lupus, but could also be activated in response to viral infections.
Future studies could explore the potential benefits of screening patients with COVID-19 or other forms of critical illness to help identify those at risk for extreme blood clotting, vascular inflammation and respiratory failure.