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Thrombotech Ltd. is an Israel-based biotechnological company that is based on years of cutting-edge thrombotic research at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. Thrombotech developed a peptide called THR-18, which allows the existing thrombolytic stroke medication to easily dissolve blood clots, extending its short therapeutic time window and diminishing life-threatening side effects.
It is estimated that around the world about 15 million strokes occur each year (2-2.5 incidents per thousand), killing 4.5 million people and incurring hundreds of billions of dollars in treatment costs.
Derived from Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), THR-18 significantly expands the use of the current stroke treatment, tissue Plasminogen Activator, or tPA, by improving its thrombolytic properties and by eliminating the risk of intra-cerebral hemorrhages and other negative side effects that had restricted the
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use of tPA to only 3-5% of embolic strokes. Therefore, more than 85% of embolic stroke cases are not now being treated satisfactorily. THR-18 should markedly extend tPA’s therapeutic time window, allowing for treatment of these patients. The narrow therapeutic time window of tPA is indeed one of the most problematic shortcomings in current treatment of cerebral thrombosis, since the vast majority of stroke victims arrive at the emergency ward fully six or more hours after the onset of symptoms.
Despite its brief therapeutic window and risk of brain hemorrhages, tPA remains the only FDA-approved treatment for acute stroke. By eliminating tPA’s negative side effects and addressing needs that tPA currently leaves unmet, THR-18 has the power to save millions of lives and cut medical costs tremendously.
THR-18 essentially binds to the molecular structure of tPA in a way that prevents the drug from producing toxicity that would exacerbate stroke’s damage to neurons, without hampering tPA’s remarkable ability to break down dangerous blood clots. THR-18 has been shown in animal studies to dramatically reduced infarct size, brain swelling and edema, damage to neurons, and incidence of both hemorrhaging and mortality, as documented in the volume 9 2006 issue of Nature Neuroscience. The net result is an unprecedented improvement in the efficacy and safety of stroke treatment.
“If these results are extended to humans, they could usher in a new era of thrombolytic therapy for stroke, which is the leading cause of disability in the world and the third leading cause of death in the United States after cancer and heart disease,” wrote Johns Hopkins neurologists Ted M Dawson and Valina L Dawson, in the Volume 12 2006 issue of Nature Medicine.
While other agents have also been shown to reduce some harmful effects of tPA in animal stroke studies, only THR-18 has the added advantage of reducing the risk of hemorrhage, which is considered the main side effect preventing tPA’s wider use in stroke therapy.
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Furthermore, THR-18 is the only thrombolytic modulator that has neuroprotective properties. The unique combination of thrombolytic modulator and neuroprotectant provide a powerful synergistic solution for stroke treatment.
THR-18 may also be used to treat traumatic head injuries, Peripheral Arterial and Venous Occlusion, an Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) – also known as a severe heart attack – and Pulmonary Embolism which is characterized by the blockage of blood supply to the lungs. Considering this large scope of additional indications of the drug's activity, THR-18 has the potential to save several million more lives around the world each year
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