Stroke is the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of disability in the US, where the incidence of first-time strokes is more than 400,000 per year. At current trends, this number is projected to jump to 1 million per year by 2050. The value of neuroprotective therapeutics for diseases including stroke was calculated at US$5.1 billion in 2005 and is expected to increase to US$11.5 billion by 2010.

Ischaemic stroke is characterized by a loss of blood flow to areas in the brain, resulting in a loss of neurologic function. Following loss of blood flow to an area of the brain, irreversible tissue damage rapidly occurs, often causing sudden and permanent physical paralysis and loss of intellectual ability. Stroke therapy aims to preserve the neurons in the surrounding areas, which are also susceptible to cell death in the following hours and days. 

Starvation of oxygen and nutrients precipitates a molecular cascade in these neurons, causing their destruction and the release of free radicals and inflammatory factors, resulting in even more damage. Neuroprotective therapies are designed to reverse this situation by restoring blood flow; for example, by dissolving clots or by inhibiting the ischaemic cascade at various stages.

Neuroprotective agents are increasingly being considered as treatments for patients with acute stroke, but are expected at this stage to be effective only within the earliest time frame, around two to three hours. There is currently only one promising protein-based product for stroke in advanced clinical development. This drug shows major benefits over previous chemical classes of drugs, and there is considerable scope in the market for further protein-based therapies.

Apollo’s therapy aims to protect neurons by crossing the blood-brain barrier and stopping programmed cell death. One potential application of this therapy is stroke. Apollo’s product is based on a protein that is already established to be safe and relatively free of side effects in humans. It is also well established that this protein has neuroprotective properties, by inducing a second messenger. The goal is to prevent damage to brain neurons caused by the process of ischaemia.