Business
XBiotech to Launch Novel Candidate Therapy for Stroke
Company Commencing Phase I/II Study to Test Safety and Efficacy of its New Drug Candidate to Reduce Brain Injury After StrokeAUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 28, 2021
About this update from Xbiotech Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Company Commencing Phase I/II Study to Test Safety and Efficacy of its New Drug Candidate to Reduce Brain Injury After StrokeAUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 28, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- XBiotech (NASDAQ: XBIT) announced today its plan to commence a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical study to test its new True Human™ antibody therapy for reducing brain injury after stroke. The study will be conducted across the United States at leading medical centers that provide advanced stroke care. During a stroke, endovascular catheters and clot-busting drugs may be used in emergency care to unblock an artery and return blood supply to the brain. However, when the artery is re-opened and blood supply returns to the oxygen starved region of the brain, further irreparable damage to brain tissue often ensues. There are no drugs approved for the treatment of this phenomena— known as ischemia-reperfusion injury—which is believed to be the result of inflammation. Ischemia reperfusion injury can result in debilitating brain injury or death. XBiotech’s new candidate therapy is intended to reduce brain injury that occurs due to ischemia and reperfusion injury. Dr. Greg Albers, Director of the Stanford Stroke Center, at Stanford Medical Center, commented “We have the technology to successfully open the clogged artery in many patients that suffer a stroke. However, we are unable to stop the damaging effects of inflammation that occurs after the clog has been displaced. A pharmacological treatment to reduce damage to the brain would represent a breakthrough in neurology.” Stroke is the leading cause of death and disability in the world today—and the prevalence of stroke is increasing. Each year about 692,000 people in the US have a stroke as a result of a blockage of an artery that supplies blood to the brain. On a world-wide basis, about 13 million people suffer a stroke each year and about 5.5 million people die. Medical technology and drugs have been developed to open stroke-causing clogged arteries in the brain. However, even after the opening of a clogged artery, the volume of brain tissue damaged by the stroke continues to increase. The increasing injury to the brain that occurs after the opening of the clogged artery is believed to be a result of inflammation. When areas of the brain are deprived of oxygen (hypoxia), blood vessels and brain cells are pi...