Drug Ineffective in Reducing Disability After Stroke
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 8 (HealthDay News) -- A drug that traps free radicals and had shown promise in an earlier trial is ineffective in reducing disability after acute ischemic stroke when given within six hours of symptom onset, according to the results of a study published in the Aug. 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Kennedy R. Lees, M.D., from the Gardiner Institute in Glasgow, United Kingdom, and colleagues randomized 3,306 patients with acute ischemic stroke to placebo or a 72-hour intravenous infusion of NXY-059 within six hours of stroke symptom onset.
The researchers found that after 90 days, both groups had similar disability scores on the modified Rankin scale. Both groups also had similar scores on the neurologic and activities-of-daily-living scales, and the mortality and adverse-event rate was similar, the authors note. In patients treated with alteplase, the frequency of symptomatic or asymptomatic hemorrhage was also similar in both groups.
"NXY-059 is ineffective for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke within six hours after the onset of symptoms," Lees and colleagues conclude.
The trial was sponsored by AstraZeneca.
