A clinical trial in Japan for a drug to treat sufferers of acute strokes has hit a snag due to surging import costs, prompting doctors to run a crowdfunding campaign to maintain the trial.
Stroke doctors such as Manabu Inoue of the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center in Osaka Prefecture are currently trying to get domestic approval for tenecteplase, a clot-busting drug for brain infarction, more commonly known as a stroke.
Consisting of doctors from 14 hospitals across Japan, the group started the four-year study in 2020 after the drug, originally used for heart attacks, began to be used more commonly abroad for the treatment of acute stroke. Recent studies have shown that tenecteplase is more effective in returning blood supply to patients’ brains than the existing drug alteplase.
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