A pioneering drug that can quickly restore vital blood flow in stroke patients could save thousands of lives each year.
Tenecteplase, a clot-dissolving therapy, has been shown in trials to be more effective and less expensive than similar drugs already on the market.
Tenectepraze is a drug that breaks down blood clots after a stroke and prevents further clots from forming. Once approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it is scheduled to be administered to patients nationwide. National Health Service Friday spending watch.
Studies have shown the drug to be as effective as the stroke treatment alteplase, which is available on the NHS.
However, tenectepraze is much cheaper to produce, potentially saving the NHS millions of pounds each year.
Both alteplase and tenecteplase are used to treat ischemic stroke, which occurs when a blockage cuts off the blood supply to part of the brain.
The medicine is given within a few hours of the onset of stroke symptoms.
Both work to restore blood flow by activating the production of plasmin, an enzyme that breaks down blood clots.
However, studies have shown that a genetically engineered version of alteplase, tenecteplase, is better able to target specific proteins in blood clots and lasts longer in the body.
The drug can also be used to treat patients with suspected heart attacks if given within six hours of symptoms starting.
Around 100,000 people are admitted to hospital each year in England with a stroke, of which 85 per cent are known to be ischaemic.
A further one million people in England live with the after-effects of a stroke.
“Stroke is one of the biggest causes of death so it’s vital that patients receive treatment that can mitigate the effects of stroke as quickly as possible,” said Helen Knight, of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which decides which medicines the NHS funds.
“The NHS could save millions of pounds by switching over to new treatments and it would be very good use of taxpayers’ money.”
