University clinical trial confirms the efficacy of perispinal etanercept – January 3, 2020

“…[T]he data provide the first confirmatory supportive evidence from a randomized parallel double blinded clinical trial for rapid and wide-ranging benefits achievable by treating stroke patients with perispinal etanercept .”

S. J. Ralph, A. Weissenberger, V. Bonev, L. D. King, M. D. Bonham, S. Ferguson, A. D. Smith, A. A. Goodman-Jones, and A. J. Espinet, Phase I/II parallel double-blind randomized controlled clinical trial of perispinal etanercept for chronic stroke: improved mobility and pain alleviation. Expert Opin Investig Drugs, 2020: p. 1-16.

Gold Coast, Australia (January 3, 2020): The results of a University randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial of perispinal etanercept were published today, confirming the efficacy and remarkable results of perispinal etanercept in a cohort of stroke survivors with relentless, intractable daily pain after stroke. The individuals were treated an average of about 4 years after stroke and each reported constant daily pain after their stroke that had failed to adequately respond to all previous forms of treatment. They received a total of two doses of perispinal etanercept, one dose and then a second dose  two weeks later, with the control group receiving two doses of saline administered perispinally the same way. The control group had no change in their daily pain, but the etanercept group had a significant reduction in pain, measured at 30 days, with a significant percentage of the etanercept patients showing near complete pain abatement after the first etanercept treatment. The study concludes: “Perispinal etanercept can provide significant and ongoing benefits for the chronic post-stroke management of pain and greater shoulder flexion by the paretic arm. Effects are rapid and highly significant, supporting direct action on brain function.”

The perispinal etanercept stroke treatment was invented by Edward Tobinick, M.D., Director of the Institute of Neurological Recovery in Boca Raton, Florida, in 2010. Dr. Tobinick was instrumental in the design of the University clinical trial.

The clinical trial results published on January 3, 2020 in the journal Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs. Learn More.