(This is an excerpt from the Health Rounds newsletter, where we present the latest medical studies on Tuesdays and Thursdays)
By Nancy Lapid
Dec 3 (Reuters) – Stroke patients who can’t get to the hospital quickly enough to be eligible for the usual clot-dissolving treatments may soon have another option, results from a mid-stage trial suggest.
Currently available thrombolytic drugs should be given within a few hours of the onset of symptoms. That narrow window can exclude patients who did not, or could not, seek help promptly because they did not immediately recognize their symptoms, as well as those who wake up with symptoms of a stroke that could have started hours earlier.
The experimental drug being developed by Silver Creek Pharmaceuticals and called scp776 inhibits apoptosis, a process in which injured cells destroy themselves.
The drug keeps injured cells alive by delivering a hormone called insulin-like growth factor 1, or IGF-1, which activates the cells’ natural repair pathways.
In 119 patients who arrived at emergency departments an average of about 12 hours after the onset of stroke — for whom there was no approved drug treatment — scp776 resulted in a clinically significant improvement in outcomes compared with placebo, researchers reported at the 2025 World Stroke Congress in Barcelona.
“It is very promising to see a therapy that harnesses the brain’s own recovery mechanisms to improve stroke outcomes in the clinic,” Silver Creek Chief Scientific Officer Kris Kuchenbecker said in a statement.
At the time of hospital discharge, or by day 7 after the onset of symptoms, patients receiving scp776 had on average a clinically significant 2.26 point higher score on the 42-point NIH Stroke Scale compared to those receiving placebo, although the difference was just short of statistical significance.
At 90 days, the treatment had resulted in a 15% increase in the relative proportion of patients who achieved functional independence, the researchers reported.
The drug received FDA Fast Track designation for acute ischemic strokes caused by blockages in the arteries that carry blood to the brain. The Food and Drug Administration grants the designation to expedite the development and review of treatments for serious conditions where there is an unmet need.
“Scp776 harnesses the well-understood repair power of growth factors in a targeted manner, finally delivering the vast preclinical evidence of therapeutic benefit of IGF-1,” said Kuchenbecker.
AI IMPROVES SCREENING FOR FETAL HEART PROBLEMS
Artificial intelligence software could improve fetal screening for congenital heart defects, according to the results of a new study.
Using a tool from the medical company BrightHeart, the researchers analyzed 200 fetal ultrasound scans obtained during the second trimester of pregnancy from women in 11 medical centers in two countries, including 100 with at least one suspicious finding.
Seven obstetrician-gynecologists and seven physicians specializing in high-risk pregnancies reviewed each exam in random order, both with and without the aid of AI, looking for findings that could indicate the presence of a severe heart defect.
Doctors found more suspicious lesions, and in less time, with AI than without, according to a report in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Overall, their detection rate increased from 82% to more than 97%, with an 18% reduction in reading time and a 19% improvement in confidence scores.
“Our study should prompt and encourage future research into the ability of AI-assisted software to improve detection rates… (and) reduce the variability and inequity of detection of congenital heart defects globally,” study co-leader Dr. Andrei Rebarber of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai said in a statement.
“The future for prenatal diagnostic imaging is bright when AI software is employed as an adjunct to physician interpretation.”
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(Reporting by Nancy Lapid; Editing by Bill Berkrot)