Tucson-based biotech drug startup NuvOx Pharma has won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Adminstation to conduct a Phase II clinical trial to test the use of an oxygen-delivery drug to treat stroke.
The FDA is allowing the follow-on trial in 60 stroke patients to determine it NuvOx’s investigational drug product, dodecafluoropentane emulsion, can deliver oxygen to parts of the brain affected by stroke.
The hope is that the intravenous drug will protect tissues in the brain by maintaining oxygen levels, and the study will monitor the oxygenation of the brain and severity of stroke in each patient using magnetic resonance imaging, NuvOx said.
The trial will be run in cooperation with the Banner University Medical Center, the company said.
Founded by University of ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ radiologist Dr. Evan Unger, NuvOx also is conducting clinical research on its drug candidates for brain cancer and sickle cell disease.
