{"id":295913,"date":"2026-02-17T16:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/295913\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T16:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:40:11","slug":"experimental-stroke-drug-slows-bleeding-but-doesnt-improve-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/295913\/","title":{"rendered":"Experimental Stroke Drug Slows Bleeding but\u00a0Doesn\u2019t\u00a0Improve Recovery\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Andrew<\/a>Andrew M.\u00a0Naidech, MD, professor\u00a0in the Ken & Ruth Davee Department of Neurology, was a co-author of the study.<\/p>\n

A global clinical trial has found that\u00a0a\u00a0drug,\u00a0designed to rapidly slow bleeding in the brain after a hemorrhagic stroke,\u00a0does not improve long\u2011term recovery for patients, according to a study\u00a0published<\/a>\u00a0in The Lancet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trial, conducted across 93 hospitals in six countries, tested whether giving recombinant factor\u00a0VIIa\u00a0within two hours of a spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) could improve patient outcomes\u00a0after\u00a0180 days.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite measurable biological effects, investigators found no improvement in functional recovery,\u00a0compared\u00a0to a\u00a0placebo.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were able to reduce bleeding, but that wasn\u2019t enough to improve patients\u2019 long\u2011term outcomes,\u201d said\u00a0Andrew M.\u00a0Naidech, MD, MSPH<\/a>, professor\u00a0in the Ken & Ruth Davee Department of Neurology<\/a>,\u00a0Division of\u00a0Neurocritical Care<\/a>,\u00a0who was a co-author of the study.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIt reinforces that stopping the hemorrhage is only one piece of a much more complex problem.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than 600 patients\u00a0participated\u00a0in the study and were randomly assigned to receive either recombinant factor\u00a0VIIa\u00a0or an identical placebo. All doses were delivered within two hours of symptom onset \u2014 one of the earliest treatment windows\u00a0attempted\u00a0in ICH research.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The modified Rankin Scale, the gold-standard measure of stroke disability, showed no outcome difference between groups at\u00a0180 days.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although functional outcomes did not improve, imaging showed that recombinant factor\u00a0VIIa\u00a0significantly slowed the growth of both intracerebral and intraventricular hemorrhages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, the treatment carried risks. Life-threatening thromboembolic events occurred in 15 patients in the treatment group,\u00a0compared with four on placebo.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAny medication that enhances clotting will carry a thrombotic risk,\u201d\u00a0Naidech\u00a0said. \u201cWhat we still need to determine is whether there\u2019s a subgroup where the bleeding risk is so high that the potential benefit outweighs that danger.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several factors may explain why the drug\u2019s biological effect did not translate into better recovery,\u00a0Naidech\u00a0said. Brain damage from ICH often occurs within\u00a0minutes, before\u00a0treatment is\u00a0possible\u00a0and hematoma location can be more important than size. Additionally, preventing secondary injury \u2014 swelling, inflammation, tissue toxicity \u2014 requires therapies beyond clotting control.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cICH is not just about the volume of blood,\u201d\u00a0Naidech\u00a0said. \u201cIt\u2019s about where that blood is, how the brain responds, and how quickly irreversible injury develops.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the trial did not show a broad clinical benefit,\u00a0Naidech\u00a0said the drug may still help a narrower group of patients.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe there are patients with extremely rapid, ongoing bleeding who could still benefit,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s where research is headed next.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trial was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, and Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of recombinant factor\u00a0VIIa.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew M.\u00a0Naidech, MD, professor\u00a0in the Ken & Ruth Davee Department of Neurology, was a co-author of the study.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[163,85,46,168,1360],"class_list":["post-295913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-neurology","tag-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}