Fourteen benchmark hospitals in research and care of neurovascular diseases in Spain and France, including the Bellvitge Hospital, have participated in the Phase 1b/2a APRIL clinical trial to test the drug ApTOLL, the first neuroprotective drug that acts on the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), in patients with acute ischaemic stroke in combination with endovascular treatment (EVT).
The results of the trial, presented at the main plenary session of the International Stroke Conference, have shown that ApTOLL reduces mortality from 18% to 5% for the most common type of stroke, which accounts for 85% of all cases.
The drug buys time until reperfusion takes place: it blocks the inflammatory response that occurs after an ischaemic stroke and slows the progression of the disease, protecting the brain for a few hours during which blood does not reach the brain. The results point to the fact that it has great potential for the future treatment of ischaemic stroke: it has shown no drug interactions and could be given to most patients.
The APRIL clinical trial was designed as a multicentre, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial involving 151 male and female patients aged 18-90 years. A large-scale Phase 2b/3 clinical trial is already being planned to gain approval in Europe and expand the treatment to other indications.
The treatment has been developed using an innovative aptamer technology by the Spanish biotech company AptaTargets