an innovative drug developed by a French company reduces mortality by “more than 50%”

An innovative treatment against stroke, developed by a French company, reduces patient mortality by “more than 50%”, according to a clinical trial revealed on Tuesday January 23 by France Inter. A team of French researchers published these excellent results from a phase 3 clinical trial of a stroke treatment on Tuesday in the prestigious journal The Lancet Neurology. The drug intended to be taken in case of stroke, Glenzocimab, was developed by a French company, Acticor Biotech.

The Acticor Biotech study was carried out in six European countries on more than 160 stroke patients. These patients received Glenzocimab, a drug that thins the blood, in addition to thrombolysis, a treatment already used for stroke. “It is a medication that will prevent the formation of clots. But it will not increase the risk of bleeding”explains to France Inter Professor Mikael Mazighi, head of the neurology department at the Lariboisière hospital in Paris.

Second cause of death in France

When a stroke occurs, the brain bleeds profusely. With a reduction in intracranial hemorrhages, the risk of mortality mechanically decreases. This is what the study shows. The researchers thus found that “Patients not receiving the drug had a mortality of 19%”specifies Professor Mikael Mazighi. “And patients receiving the drug had mortality that was reduced to 8%,” either “more than 50% reduction in mortality”.

Stroke, the leading cause of disability and second cause of death in France, affects nearly 130,000 people each year.