Physicians Still Hopeful About Desmoteplase For The Treatment Of Acute Ischemic Stroke Despite Negative Results

Main Category: Stroke
Also Included In: Clinical Trials / Drug Trials
Article Date: 31 Jan 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms for pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that physicians are still hopeful about Paion/Lundbeck's desmoteplase despite recent negative results. Although desmoteplase demonstrated efficacy on a stringent composite measure of overall outcome when delivered within nine hours of stroke onset in the DIAS-1 trial, the drug failed to meet the same efficacy outcome in the larger DIAS-2 Phase III clinical trial. Experts interviewed by Decision Resources suggest that issues of clinical trial design, rather than the action of the drug, may have led to the failure of desmoteplase in the DIAS-2 trial. Despite these findings, surveyed neurologists indicate that they would prescribe the drug to 10% of their diagnosed acute ischemic stroke patients.

According to the new report entitled: Acute Ischemic Stroke: Despite Negative Results, Physicians Still Hopeful about Desmoteplase, surveyed neurologists continue to identify a six-hour treatment window as the area of greatest dissatisfaction. The development of a reperfusion agent with a wider time window would represent an important near-term solution by increasing the number of acute ischemic stroke patients who receive treatment.

"Between the two emerging therapies included in this study, desmoteplase appears to have the potential to meet many of the safety and delivery criteria of our 'Minimal Acceptable' target product profile," said Sami Fam, Ph.D., analyst at Decision Resources. "Surveyed neurologists would treat 10% of their patients with such an agent -- that is three times more than those who are getting treated currently with rt-PA. The arrival of such a reperfusion agent would signal a new dawn for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke, which is miserably undertreated today."

About Acute Ischemic Stroke: Despite Negative Results, Physicians Still Hopeful about Desmoteplase

Acute Ischemic Stroke: Despite Negative Results, Physicians Still Hopeful about Desmoteplase is a DecisionBase 2008 report from Decision Resources. DecisionBase 2008 combines market forecasts with clinical and commercial end points to assess market share projections in 35 indications. These outputs are driven by quantitative and qualitative primary research. DecisionBase 2008 provides detailed market share, patient share, and price-per-day projections for emerging drugs in development. The market share projections are based on prescriber surveys that compare physicians' expectations of a potential target product profile with an emerging product profile of the leading drugs in development.

The report can be purchased by contacting Decision Resources. Members of the media may request an interview with an analyst.

About Decision Resources

Decision Resources, Inc. (http://www.decisionresources.com) is a world leader in market research publications, advisory services, and consulting designed to help clients shape strategy, allocate resources, and master their chosen markets. Decision Resources is a Decision Resources, Inc. company.

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