TPA Successor TNK in Trials at UVA

Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have been awarded a $1.2 million, 3-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a program to study the effects of TNK-TPA against stroke (HIC #7595).

Physicians at UVA pioneered the use of rt-PA for patients that they have been able to identify within 3 hours of their first symptoms as having an ischemic stroke. However, patients who receive rt-PA run a 6.4% risk of intracranial hemorrhage.

This risk led to the development of TNK-TPA, a new clot-buster that has been engineered to more accurately target the site of the stroke. In addition to possibly lowering the risk of intracranial hemorrhage, TNK-TPA has been shown in experiments to be more potent and to act more quickly than rt-PA.

TNK-TPA has recently received FDA approval for use in the treatment of heart attack, but it has not been tried in ischemic stroke patients until now.

E. Clarke Haley, Jr., MD, is a UVA neurologist specializing in stroke. As the principal investigator in this clinical trial, he is leading a team of researchers at UVA and the University of California-San Diego. The other members of the team at UVA are neurologist Karen C. Johnston, MD, and Gail L. Kongable, MSN, FNP.

E. Clarke Haley,M.D., ech@virginia.edu