COVID-19 Treatments: tPA - A Clot Busting Drug Used In Strokes Could Be Repurposed As Part Of COVID-19 Treatment Protocol
Source: COVID-19 Treatments May 04, 2020 3 years, 11 months, 3 weeks, 13 hours, 43 minutes ago
COVID-19 Treatments: According to medical researchers at the University of Aberdeen,a drug called tPA which is often used to treat patients suffering from strokes could be repurposed to treat patients with COVID-19.
The study led by Dr Claire Whyte and Dr Nicola Mutch from the University's Cardiovascular & Diabetes Centre and Honorary Research Fellow, Dr Gael Morrow, has had their research findings published in the
Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis, and was funded in part by grants from the British Heart Foundation.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jth.14872
The medical researchers suggest an aerosol version of a clot-busting drug called tissue plasminogen activator or tPA could be a 'pragmatic' way to tackle lung injury complications caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Other diseases similar to COVID-19, including the common flu, can create inflammation which results in deposits of a protein called fibrin. Fibrin is the scaffold that blood clots are made of.
It has been observed that it is this build up of fibrin takes up space and reduces the amount of oxygen the lung can take in.
It has been observed that patients with COVID-19 are prone to forming unwanted blood clots which ultimately increases the risk of death.
At the moment the strategy is to treat COVID-19 patients with lung complications using medication to prevent unwanted blood clots forming.
The problem is that these drugs or medications will not help to breakdown clots that have already formed.
The medical researchers in their study finding suggest the clot buster drug, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which is currently used to treat stroke patients, could be used to target clots that have already formed.
"Given the urgent time scale of treating severely ill patients and the current burden on the NHS, repurposing of existing therapies, such as tPA, is a pragmatic approach in addressing the lung injury complications associated with COVID-19," Dr Nicola Mutch told Thailand Medical News.
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