Drug used to treat arthritis could save stroke patients

February 21, 2017

A stroke can occur when blood supply is cut off from a part of someone’s brain
But a drug used to treat arthritis could save stroke patients from brain damage
A stroke is the third-largest cause of death after heart disease and cancer

Martyn Halle For The Mail On Sunday

Published:
17:22 EST, 18 February 2017

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Updated:
17:24 EST, 18 February 2017

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A single shot of a drug normally used to treat arthritic knees could save thousands of stroke patients from brain damage and lifelong disability.

A stroke occurs when blood supply is cut off from a part of the brain either through a clot or a haemorrhaged vessel.

It is the third-largest cause of death in adults, after heart disease and cancer, and affects about 110,000 people in England every year.

As 85 per cent of strokes are caused by a blood clot, patients are often given ‘clot-busting’ medication in a procedure known as thrombolysis to resolve the issue.

A single shot of a drug normally used to treat arthritic knees (stock photo) could save thousands of stroke patients from brain damage

However, these drugs do not stop the toxic inflammatory response caused by a stroke and commonly are not given until the patient has reached hospital – which can be hours after the stroke incident.

To bridge this gap, British doctors are trialling the use of a rheumatoid arthritis drug which targets the inflammatory process in the brain caused by stroke in the same way it treats inflammation in an arthritic joint.

People who have suffered a stroke are left with abnormally high levels of interleukin-1, a protein that can trigger inflammation in the brain. This inflammation increases a patient’s risk of severe disability or death, and at present there are no drugs to treat this particular side effect of a stroke.

However, the drug being trialled – known as IL-1Ra – appears to block interleukin-1.

It can be administered by paramedics at the scene as an injection in the arm or thigh, meaning that treatment starts before the patient has even reached hospital.

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As part of the Manchester-based trial of nearly 200 patients, doctors have also discovered that the drug can even encourage the production of new cells to repair those that have been damaged.

Professor Stuart Allan, of the University of Manchester, who has been researching the drug for years, said: ‘The results lend strong support to the use of IL-1Ra in the treatment of stroke. However, further large trials are necessary.’

He added: ‘The fact that this drug could be given by paramedics would be hugely significant. We know that in stroke, damage can be quite rapid. At present we have no way of reversing or halting the toxins released by the inflammatory response.’

And Professor Pippa Tyrrell, a stroke specialist at Salford Royal Infirmary, who has led the human trials, said: ‘We are excited by the results of our work so far. We know this drug appears to be safe and we have seen some beneficial response in patients. But we need to confirm our findings in larger stage-three trials, which we hope to start soon.’

British doctors are trialling the use of a rheumatoid arthritis drug which targets the inflammatory process in the brain

Prof Allan added: ‘This is quite a significant achievement. It has taken so long because we are using an existing drug which has made it difficult to get research funding. When we’ve run out of cash, we’ve had to stop to raise more.’

Experts say that the drug could get relatively rapid approval for routine use because it already has a licence and a good safety profile.

The drug would be relatively cheap for the NHS to buy, no more than a few hundred pounds per jab, but the savings could be enormous

Prof Tyrrell said: ‘We are all very optimistic about the results so far and look forward to this drug being used for treating stroke.’

She added: ‘The NHS spends hundreds of millions of pounds a year treating patients and caring for them if they don’t fully recover. We might be able to cut that bill in half.’