Brain stroke patients in India to get access to low-cost ‘clotbuster’ in next 5-7 years of time

NEW DELHI: Six years after getting an American patent for its invention, the country’s premier public sector research institution, CSIR, has entered into an agreement with a Mumbai-based bio-pharmaceutical company to develop its patented ‘clotbuster’ which is meant for treating ischemic stroke through cost-effective intervention.

Ischemic stroke is a condition caused by a dysfunction in the supply of blood to the brain due to emboli, thrombus or atherosclerosis occurring in cerebral arteries.

The clotbuster (PEGylated Streptokinase - a novel biological entity) was invented by a team of scientists at CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh. The team of inventors include the present director general of the CSIR, Girish Sahni, and two other scientists, Shekhar Kumar and Neeraj Maheshwari.

Speaking about his invention, Sahni told TOI that the new clotbuster can be administered to patient within 8-10 hours, unlike existing options which need to be given within first three hours. “It will thus provide doctors, specially in small cities and rural areas, adequate time to go for an MRI and take a call whether the patient can be administered the clotbuster or not. Besides, it’ll be quite inexpensive as compared to available options”.

Asked how soon patients in India can get the new product, the CSIR chief said, “It may take 5 to 7 years as the company will now do clinical trials and then go for regulator’s nod. The government can however, fastrack it as it’s a life-saving drug.”

Claiming that the new clotbuster is all set to revolutionise the treatment of ischemic stroke, the ministry of science and technology in a statement said, “The CSIR-IMTECH and Epygen Biotech Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai (the bio-pharmaceutical company) have entered into an agreement for the latter to develop the PEGylated Streptokinase for treatment of ischemic stroke.

“The Epygen is the first company in India with exclusive licence of this novel biological entity (NBE) thrombolytic protein for ischemic stroke.”

According to the American Stroke Association (ASA), brain strokes are the second leading cause of death in the world with a staggering 15 million people effected causing 11 million people to either die or become permanently disabled.

“Surprisingly, the prevalence of stroke is much higher in India than the West and about 87% of all strokes are ischemic strokes,” said the statement.