CHIMES is a placebo-controlled trial of NeuroAiD, having included 1,099 patients with ishaemic stroke who are receiving appropriate secondary prevention treatments. The frequency of early cardiovascular events and deaths during the three-month follow-up was halved in the NeuroAiD, group (p=0.025) without an increase in bleeding rate and non-vascular deaths.
NeuroAiD, a treatment of post-stroke recovery containing natural extracts, reduces early cardiovascular events and deaths by nearly 50% on top of antiplatelet agents within three months after stroke onset, without an increase in bleeding rate and non-vascular deaths according to research published online in the journal Stroke.
CHIMES is an academic international double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial in 1,099 patients having suffered an ischaemic stroke of intermediate severity within 72 hours, treated by NeuroAiD or placebo and monitored for three months.
Considering the positive effects of NeuroAiD on cerebral blood flow and a potential role in “ischaemic preconditioning,” CHIMES researchers hypothesised that NeuroAiD may have an effect on preventing the occurrence of early vascular events after stroke onset. They analysed a composite outcome consisting of vascular events and vascular deaths, all events being blindly adjudicated. NeuroAiD was given on top of secondary prevention therapies like antiplatelet drugs, statins, and antihypertensive and antidiabetics treatments.
As a result the vascular outcome occurred in 16 patients (2.9%) of the NeuroAiD group, as opposed to 31 patients (5.6%) in the placebo group (p=0.025). This represents half the rate of early cardiovascular events and deaths, which corresponds to about 27 fewer patients suffering a recurrent vascular event or death per 1000 patients treated over three months.
On the safety side, there was no increase in bleeding and non-vascular deaths, confirming the compound’s excellent safety profile, with patients on NeuroAiD having fewer adverse events than those in the placebo group.
Marie-Germaine Bousser, former head of Neurology department, Hopital Lariboisiere, Paris and co-author of the publication, said this study revealed a potentially important effect of NeuroAiD in reducing morbidity and mortality after ischaemic stroke. “Only a limited number of treatments have been shown to reduce early recurrent vascular events and deaths after acute stroke, mainly using antiplatelet agents and their combinations. NeuroAiDhaving no effect on platelet aggregation or coagulation could be added to these drugs without increasing bleeding risk.”
Christopher Chen, neurologist, National University of Singapore, Singapore, and the principal investigator of the CHIMES study, considers that pharmacological effects of NeuroAiD could explain the cardiovascular benefits observed in CHIMES trial. “NeuroAiD has been shown to increase cerebral blood flow velocity and to activate ATP-dependent potassium channels which play an important role in preconditioning, helping to improve tolerance of cerebral and myocardial tissues to ischaemia. Further elucidate of other mechanisms of action of NeuroAiD in preventing vascular events would be very interesting.”
This analysis was conducted by the CHIMES investigators, an international partnership of leaders in neurology, having carried out this large-scale trial to investigate the use of a product from natural substances in reducing disability and cardiovascular events after an acute stroke in a rigorous manner.
