A stroke drug is being tested in Russia

In 2010 this research came out:

Efficacy of phenotropil in the rehabilitation of stroke patients

So ask your doctor if there was any followup research and where it stands today. Doesn't know, then you don't have a functioning stroke doctor.

A stroke drug is being tested in Russia

By Peter Kavinsky

Post date

• 43 seconds ago

After a stroke, a lot happens in the brain at once

In Russia, a drug is being created that can protect against the consequences of stroke, the second most common “killer” of people around the world. It has successfully passed the preclinical trials stage, the drug is ready to be tested on volunteers. Komsomolskaya Pravda spoke with Head of the development team, doctor of chemical sciences, Professor Vadim Negrebetsky at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

BATTLE: CANNOT BE HEALED, BUT CAN BE TREATED

Is it possible to create a kind of “vaccine” against stroke? Yes, risks can be reduced by giving up bad habits. A healthy lifestyle also helps. But is it possible to completely eradicate this disease?

The main difficulty is that many events occur simultaneously in the brain after a stroke. Blood circulation is disturbed, which is accompanied by neurological symptoms, such as speech disorders, limb mobility and swallowing. The blood supply to the brain is noticeably reduced, and this causes severe stress to the body and causes necrosis or premature death of neurons. A stroke can lead to death, but even with a relatively favorable outcome, the consequences can leave a relatively healthy person incapacitated yesterday.

BASED ON A SPACE MEDICINE FROM THE BIN OF THE HOMELAND

Russian scientists turned to a forgotten ancient drug, phenotropil, originally from the USSR, from the 1970s. This substance has a nootropic effect, that is, it can increase attention and concentration, have a beneficial effect on the nervous system’s tolerance to various kinds of loads, and protect interneuronal connections from destruction. It was once used in astronaut training, but it is not convenient to use it for stroke. The drug is in a pill and the “therapeutic window” for stroke, the time when treatment is most effective, is only 6 hours. And how can a person with a stroke take even one pill? During this time, you should still have time to do an MRI or computed tomography with contrast medium. And if you do not have time, the neurons begin to die, the consequences are irreversible.

CHEMICAL BATTERY FOR THE BRAIN

Scientists decided to “spin” the drug to make it better absorbed by the body. At the same time, the chemical formula was also changed, adding a new compound that fights inflammation that starts immediately after a stroke.

The experimental drug has already received the first patients: laboratory mice, rabbits and rats. Their recovery was followed, among other things, with the help of a magnetic resonance tomograph for laboratory animals, by the way, there are only one or two such devices in Russia and countless. And the rodents were tested to see how their ability to enter burrows changed and how animals could swim.

SEIZE, DEMENTIA AND DEPRESSION

Among the additional effects that the drug has, an antidepressant property stands out.

“Now we’re working with different models of depression in the lab, using lab animals at this stage,” says Vadim Gernebetsky. – One of the models is chronic unpredictable mild stress. It most adequately reproduces depression in humans. Another model is associated with processes triggered by inflammation. Our preparation showed good results. And I think the outlook is even broader than stroke and depression help. It also improves performance very well due to the fact that it contributes to the saturation of blood with oxygen. We are also currently testing how the compound works in Parkinson’s disease.

SPECIAL OPINION

“The problem is that only a few nootropics have been shown to be effective, and only for treating certain stroke-related conditions,” he says. Nikolai Kryuchkov, immunologist, candidate of medical sciences, general director of a contract research agency. – In an integrated approach to stroke treatment, these are auxiliary drugs.

Recovery from a stroke first requires an expensive and individually selected system of rehabilitation (recovery of movement, speech, often vision) and subsequent socialization, he emphasizes.

The expert believes that it is far from certain that the successes achieved in animals will be repeated in human trials. There can be many reasons for failure: an error in the selection of the dosage, the mechanism of action may not work in a person and much more.

“It takes a lot of serious research, which is not so easy to fund,” says Nikolai Kryuchkov. – If the drug can be tested in such a way that it can be brought to the domestic market, it will be a great success. But it’s nice that there are developments going on. I would like to believe that Russian development institutions, public and private pharmaceutical companies will find resources for the most promising drugs in this field.