After 10 difficult years of rehabilitation, Shane Hopkins is happy.
The 56-year-old from Western Australia was working as a nurse manager when he suffered a stroke while on duty.
“My whole right side was completely numb and I had no idea what was going on,” Hopkins said.
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He also lost his speech and had to learn to walk and talk again.
The hours after a stroke are crucial and Perth scientists are hoping a breakthrough drug can reduce the severity of a stroke.
“Our drug can target some of these damaging processes that ultimately lead to brain damage,” said Professor Bruno Meloni of the Perron Institute.
The intravenous drug is made from a peptide, a small chain of amino acids.
It turned out to have neuroprotective properties.
It would be used by first responders.
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“Our goal is to try to deliver something in the first hour, in the first golden hour after a stroke,” Meloni said.
The drug will be deployed for trial purposes to treat ischemic stroke in more than 30 healthy patients.
Liz Dallimore of Argonica Therapeutics said the study would ideally be completed “by the end of this calendar year”.
“Then we start planning the next phase where we do it in stroke patients,” she said.
The study has been going on for 25 years.
It is hoped that this drug can help people with other neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and people with concussions.
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