Novartis AG’s efficient leukemia drug Gleevec or imatinib may also be beneficial for stroke patients, researchers from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research along with researchers from the University of Michigan Medical School discovered.

Current treatment for stroke patients involves use of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which works by dissolving clots reducing potential brain damage associated with stroke. However, the drug causes dangerous bleeding in the brain and three hours after stroke its brain-saving power fades away.

For the study, the researchers induced strokes in lab mice and an hour later gave some of them a dose of Gleevec. They found that mice given the drug had 33 percent less leakage. Also, they had 34 percent less damage to the brain 72 hours later.

Then the researchers tested Gleevec as a pre-treatment before giving tPA to protect against bleeding in the brain. They measured levels of the blood protein hemoglobin in the brain to test for bleeding and discovered that the mice given Gleevec had 50 percent less hemoglobin than those not given the drug.

Researcher Daniel Lawrence, PhD, Professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School released a statement saying the findings “may have immediate clinical relevance, and could be applied to find new treatments that will benefit stroke patients,” WebMD reports.

Ulf Eriksson, professor of molecular biology at the Karolinska Institute, one of the leaders of the research said a first human trial, involving 60 people, will soon begin in Sweden and it will be done by physicians at the Karolinska Institute Hospital in Stockholm. Results of this trial should be available within one year. These results will be decisive in planning other human trials.

The findings of the study were published in the June 22 online edition of Nature Medicine.