TY - JOUR
T1 - A feasibility and safety study of afamelanotide in acute stroke patients – an open label, proof of concept, phase iia clinical trial
AU - Stanislaus, Vimal
AU - Kam, Anthony
AU - Murphy, Lily
AU - Wolgen, Philippe
AU - Walker, Gill
AU - Bilbao, Pilar
AU - Cloud, Geoffrey C.
N1 - Funding Information:
This trial was sponsored by CLINUVEL Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/7/26
Y1 - 2023/7/26
N2 - Background: Neuroprotective agents have the potential to improve the outcomes of revascularisation therapies in acute ischemic stroke patients (AIS) and in those unable to receive revascularisation. Afamelanotide, a synthetic α-melanocyte stimulating hormone analogue, is a potential novel neuroprotective agent. We set out to assess the feasibility and safety of afamelanotide for the first time in AIS patients. Methods: AIS patients within 24 h of onset, with perfusion abnormality on imaging (Tmax) and otherwise ineligible for revascularisation therapies were enrolled. Afamelanotide 16 mg implants were administered subcutaneously on Day 0 (D0, day of recruitment), D1 and repeated on D7 and D8, if not well recovered. Treatment emergent adverse events (TEAEs) and neurological assessments were recorded regularly up to D42. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with FLAIR sequences were also performed on D3 and D9. Results: Six patients (5 women, median age 81, median NIHSS 6) were recruited. Two patients received 4 doses and four patients received 2. One patient (who received 2 doses), suffered a fatal recurrent stroke on D9 due to a known complete acute internal carotid artery occlusion, assessed as unrelated to the study drug. There were no other local or major systemic TEAEs recorded. In all surviving patients, the median NIHSS improved from 6 to 2 on D7. The median Tmax volume on D0 was 23 mL which was reduced to a FLAIR volume of 10 mL on D3 and 4 mL on D9. Conclusions: Afamelanotide was well tolerated and safe in our small sample of AIS patients. It also appears to be associated with good recovery and radiological improvement of salvageable tissue which needs to be tested in randomized studies. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04962503, First posted 15/07/2021.
AB - Background: Neuroprotective agents have the potential to improve the outcomes of revascularisation therapies in acute ischemic stroke patients (AIS) and in those unable to receive revascularisation. Afamelanotide, a synthetic α-melanocyte stimulating hormone analogue, is a potential novel neuroprotective agent. We set out to assess the feasibility and safety of afamelanotide for the first time in AIS patients. Methods: AIS patients within 24 h of onset, with perfusion abnormality on imaging (Tmax) and otherwise ineligible for revascularisation therapies were enrolled. Afamelanotide 16 mg implants were administered subcutaneously on Day 0 (D0, day of recruitment), D1 and repeated on D7 and D8, if not well recovered. Treatment emergent adverse events (TEAEs) and neurological assessments were recorded regularly up to D42. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with FLAIR sequences were also performed on D3 and D9. Results: Six patients (5 women, median age 81, median NIHSS 6) were recruited. Two patients received 4 doses and four patients received 2. One patient (who received 2 doses), suffered a fatal recurrent stroke on D9 due to a known complete acute internal carotid artery occlusion, assessed as unrelated to the study drug. There were no other local or major systemic TEAEs recorded. In all surviving patients, the median NIHSS improved from 6 to 2 on D7. The median Tmax volume on D0 was 23 mL which was reduced to a FLAIR volume of 10 mL on D3 and 4 mL on D9. Conclusions: Afamelanotide was well tolerated and safe in our small sample of AIS patients. It also appears to be associated with good recovery and radiological improvement of salvageable tissue which needs to be tested in randomized studies. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04962503, First posted 15/07/2021.
KW - Acute ischemic stroke
KW - Afamelanotide
KW - Melanocyte stimulating hormone
KW - Neuroprotective
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85165919079&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12883-023-03338-9
DO - 10.1186/s12883-023-03338-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 37496004
AN - SCOPUS:85165919079
SN - 1471-2377
VL - 23
JO - BMC Neurology
JF - BMC Neurology
IS - 1
M1 - 281
ER -