Promising new stroke therapy has UPEI connection
The medical world is abuzz with several high-profile reports of a promising new treatment that appears to reduce brain damage done by the most common type of stroke. The experimental drug, named NA-1, underwent some of its most important preclinical testing at UPEI by a team including Dr. Andrew Tasker, Dr. Catherine Ryan, and Dr. Tracy Doucette.
Dr. Tasker, Professor of Neuropharmacology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at UPEI's Atlantic Veterinary College, is one of six founding scientists of NoNO Inc., a Toronto-based company dedicated to the research, development, and commercialization of pharmaceuticals for the treatment of several common health disorders, including stroke. One of its most promising compounds is the drug NA-1.
'The name NoNO Inc. refers to ‘no nitric oxide,'' says Dr. Tasker. 'Nitric oxide is one of the compounds most responsible for cell death in the brain after a stroke. If we can prevent further cell death in the hours following a stroke, we can avoid a great deal of the damage associated with stroke.'
Dr. Tasker says there are currently no drugs available to prevent cell death in stroke. The only useful treatment for ischemic stroke, the clot-busting medication tPA, has some practical limitations. It must be given to patients within a relatively short amount of time after the stroke, and the type of stroke must first be confirmed by complicated testing.
'Our tests showed NA-1 proved to be effective at preventing cell death and long-term functional deficits even when administered up to three hours after the stroke,' says Dr. Tasker. 'And, it only targets the cells which are destined to die because of the stroke. It has no negative impact on other cells in the body.'
Dr. Tasker, Dr. Ryan, and Dr. Doucette were brought into the project in 2002 after being teamed up by the Canadian Stroke Network with University of Toronto scientists Dr. Michael Tymianski and Dr. Michael Salter.
'Most of the pre-clinical work demonstrating the long-term efficacy of NA-1 in ischemic stroke was conducted here at UPEI, and was instrumental in establishing NoNO as a company and getting NA-1 fast-tracked into Phase 1 clinical trials,' says Dr. Tasker. 'This work was done in conjunction with Dr. Ryan in Psychology and was coordinated by Dr. Doucette, who was then working as a post-doctoral fellow and is currently an Assistant Professor in Biology. Dr. Doucette's team involved technicians, graduate students, and a small army of undergraduate volunteers.'
Favourable results from a Phase 2 human trial of NA-1 in 185 patients in Canada and the US were recently reported by Dr. Michael Hill, the principal investigator on the trial. Further clinical trials are required before the drug can be brought to market.
