Singapore: Shimojani obtained exclusive license from Japan's Niigata University for worldwide development and commercialization of an invention that reduces the risk of hemorrhage in acute ischemic stroke patients, including those who receive tissue plasminogen activator (tPA).

Risk of hemorrhage is the limiting factor associated with pharmacological or mechanical clot disruption and is believed to contribute to the severity of clinical symptoms even in untreated patients. Based on an improved animal model for stroke, a key pathway has been implicated, with validation of the importance of the pathway established in the animal model using previously described agents, both protein and small molecule. Terms of the license agreement have not been disclosed yet.

Building on the preclinical findings from the laboratory of Dr Takayoshi Shimohata, associate professor in Niigata University's Brain Research Institute and a collaborator and academic advisor to the company, Shimojani has engaged with leading stroke experts in the US, who are seeking to confirm the pathway's importance by analyzing its state of activation in human clinical specimens from stroke patients.

Shimojani co-founder and vice president Mr Larry Kauvar commented, "The fundamental advance by Dr Shimohata was to identify a signal transduction pathway that plays a key role in determining the severity of a stroke. This was made possible due to Dr Shimohata's innovative use of a rodent model for stroke that more accurately mimics the human situation."

Professor Masatoyo Nishizawa, chairman, neurology, Brain Research Institute at Niigata University, and also a collaborator of Dr Shimohata, commented, "I hope that cooperation with Shimojani will make significant progress in advancing our basic research findings into clinical applications that will benefit the many victims of acute ischemic stroke."