More trial evidence supports drug tenecteplase for acute stroke treatment

Research data presented at the European Stroke Organisation Conference last week suggests clot-busting drug tenecteplase (TNK) is an effective, if not preferred, alternative to the current standard, alteplase, to treat patients with acute ischemic stroke who require a medication to break up blood clots.

TCT MD highlighted some of the trials presented at the conference, as well as expert commentary from attendees.

Trials of alteplase, also called tPA, were pioneered at the University of Cincinnati in the late 1980s, representing the first proven treatment for ischemic stroke. TNK is a more recently developed clot-busting drug that can be administered in a single IV injection within seconds.

Some researchers at the conference said the new trial data suggests TNK should be the first choice when a medication is needed to break up a blood clot.

Commenting on a TNK trial conducted in China, Eva Mistry, MBBS, told TCT MD the encouraging results are most applicable to patients who do not have timely access to mechanical thrombectomy, a minimally invasive procedure for acute ischemic stroke patients that uses a catheter to remove a blood clot from a blood vessel in the brain, which restores blood flow.

“But I think it’s an important trial that shows us that TNK helps lyse big clots. Mechanistically, that makes sense,” said Mistry, a UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute physician researcher and assistant professor in the Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation medicine in UC’s College of Medicine.

“But I would not delay transfer for this,” Mistry continued. “I wouldn’t do anything differently other than making a case that, ‘Well, I can now give them TNK in addition to doing everything else I was to get them ready for thrombectomy.’”

Read the TCT MD article.

Mistry also commented to TCT MD on research presented at ESOC on the long-term benefit of thrombectomy for patients with large acute strokes. 

Featured photo at top of illustration of brain with stroke symptoms. Photo/PeterSchreiber.media/iStock.