A preclinical trial by the U.S. National Institutes of Health validates the efficacy of Uric Acid for ischaemic stroke

Uric Acid was shown to improve the prognosis of ischaemic stroke in a preclinical study carried out on rodents within the framework of the Stroke Preclinical Assessment Network (SPAN) in the USA, a network of experimental laboratories focusing on cerebral ischaemia, coordinated by the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC).

Dr. Ángel Chamorro, head of the IDIBAPS-Hospital Clínic Barcelona Cerebrovascular Pathology Unit, scientific advisor at FreeOx Biotech and Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa, has participated in the SPAN network study.

Stroke is a disease with a very high social impact. It is estimated that one in four people over 25 will have a cerebrovascular accident in their lifetime, and each year over 12.2 million people have an ischaemic stroke worldwide.

During the first few hours after a stroke, it is crucial to act quickly, since on average two million brain cells die every minute. Therefore, treatments to restore blood flow should be used up to 24 hours after the stroke.

SPAN’s aim was to identify the most promising molecules for their subsequent assessment in pivotal phase III clinical trials funded by The National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke (NINDS) of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). After two years of preclinical experiments with six molecules, SPAN identified Uric Acid as the only effective treatment out of all the therapies evaluated in the different phases of the project.

Uric Acid is a neuroprotectant and cerebral reperfusion enhancer identified by Dr. Ángel Chamorro at the Hospital Clínic Barcelona and transferred to FreeOx Biotech for its development as a drug, Ox-01. It had already demonstrated clinical benefit in stroke patients treated with mechanical thrombectomy in a clinical trial led by Dr. Chamorro, who explains that, “the SPAN study was carried out in animal models of ischaemic stroke, in experimental conditions with the maximum methodological rigour, which positions Uric Acid and FreeOx in an advantageous position for the clinical validation of Ox-01 in an upcoming pivotal clinical trial in stroke patients treated with mechanical thrombectomy”.

Likewise, Dr. Tudor Jovin, scientific co-founder of FreeOx Biotech, points out that “the SPAN results represent one of the most important findings in recent years in terms of identifying new treatments for ischaemic stroke”. “The positive results of the preclinical study are a very important step to ensure Ox-01 reaches patients as soon as possible”, comments Carlos Lurigados, CEO of FreeOx Biotech. Ox-01 has been granted a patent in the USA for its use in combination with Mechanical Thrombectomy in ischaemic stroke.

The SPAN results were presented in a plenary session at the International Stroke Conference 2023 (ISC) held in Dallas on February 8-10.

Details of the session:

Pre-Clinical Translational Stroke Development: SPAN Results and Next Steps
Data: 10 de febrer de 2023
Hora: 9.15 h – 10.45 h Local time (UTC -6)

Imagen: Dr. Angel Chamorro (left) and Carlos Lurigados