UA Professor Directs Manufacture of Experimental Stroke Drug

By Alexis Blue,      University Communications |             September 20, 2012

Researchers think the drug 3K3A-APC, currently undergoing clinical trials in Europe, may help reduce brain damage and improve motor skills after a stroke.

Ribbon structure of the drug 3K3A-APC, which researchers hope will help reduce brain damage in stroke victims.

Ribbon structure of the drug 3K3A-APC, which researchers hope will help reduce brain damage in stroke victims. (Image courtesy of ZZ Biotech)

A University of Arizona professor is overseeing the manufacture of an experimental drug that could help reduce brain damage after a stroke.

The drug, known as 3K3A-APC, currently is undergoing clinical trials in Europe to determine its safety in humans after proving effective in animal models at reducing brain damage and improving motor skills after a stroke when given in combination with another commonly used stroke therapy.

Thomas Davis, UA professor of pharmacology

Thomas Davis, UA professor of pharmacology

Thomas Davis, professor of pharmacology in the UA College of Medicine, was chosen to direct the manufacture of the drug for human trials after co-authoring a recent paper in the journal Stroke that pointed to the drug’s effectiveness in rats and mice when used in conjunction with a clot-busting therapy known as tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA.While tPA is commonly given to sufferers of ischemic stroke, which results from an obstruction in a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain, the therapy poses significant challenges when administered alone, including a limited treatment window, Davis said.

“It has to be given within the first three to four and a half hours of the stroke,” Davis said. “It only works in 10 percent of the patients, and it causes bleeding, so tPA alone isn’t that effective.”

Researchers now have found that 3K3A-APC, with its cell protective properties, may be effective in extending the treatment window for tPA while protecting against programmed cell death in the brain, which occurs when cellular signals convince brain cells to kill themselves following a stroke. When tested in rodents, the combination therapy reduced brain damage by more than half, eliminated tPA-induced bleeding and significantly improved motor abilities.

The drug 3K3A-APC initially was created by a team of scientists at the Scripps Research Institute and the University of Southern California, led by John Griffin, professor at the Scripps Research Institute, and Dr. Berislav V. Zlokovic, director of the Neurogenic Institute at USC’s Keck School of Medicine. It was further developed by Houston-based biotech company ZZ Biotech, for which Davis serves as a consultant and member of the scientific board of directors.

 

Read more at UA News:

http://uanews.org/story/ua-professor-directs-manufacture-experimental-stroke-drug

 

Posted in AZBio News, BioScience.