Biopharmaceutical firm Paion of Aachen, Germany, has inked a deal with Philips Medical Systems of Andover, MA, to use the multimodality vendor's brain perfusion CT software in clinical trials of desmoteplase, a drug under investigation for the treatment of stroke patients.
Philips' postprocessing brain perfusion CT software helps doctors discriminate between the core of an infarction -- the dead tissue -- and the ischemic penumbra, or the viable but inadequately perfused tissue. The software displays summary maps, including color maps of cerebral blood flow and volume, as well as mean transit time and time-to-peak, information that helps physicians decide which patients would benefit from reperfusion therapy.
Part of a new group of plasminogen activators, desmoteplase is a genetically engineered form of a clot-dissolving protein found in the saliva of the vampire bat Desmodus rotundus. Earlier clinical trials have shown desmoteplase to be helpful in treating patients up to nine hours after the occurrence of stroke symptoms. The Food and Drug Administration has given the drug fast-track status, according to Paion.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writers
November 10, 2004
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