A clinical trial in Japan for a drug to treat sufferers of acute strokes has hit a snag due to surging import costs, prompting doctors to run a crowdfunding campaign to maintain the trial.

Stroke doctors such as Manabu Inoue of the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center in Osaka Prefecture are currently trying to get domestic approval for tenecteplase, a clot-busting drug for brain infarction, more commonly known as a stroke.

Consisting of doctors from 14 hospitals across Japan, the group started the four-year study in 2020 after the drug, originally used for heart attacks, began to be used more commonly abroad for the treatment of acute stroke. Recent studies have shown that tenecteplase is more effective in returning blood supply to patients¡¯ brains than the existing drug alteplase.

In addition, tenecteplase, a genetically modified version of alteplase, is easier to use because it can be administered via one intravenous shot, whereas alteplase needs to be continually given via an IV drip for about an hour, the doctors say.

The use of clot-dissolving drugs and the removal of blood clots through catheters during the acute stage of a stroke are crucial to reviving blood flow to the brain and to preventing the death of brain cells ¡ª thus reducing aftereffects for patients, the group of doctors says.

But in Japan, the drug is not available, as no drugmaker is willing to conduct a clinical trial, the according to the group. Alarmed by the growing drug lag, the doctors started a trial on their own in April 2020.

The researchers resorted to crowdfunding in April after discovering that funds were running short. The drug¡¯s import costs, they discovered, had surged with recent rises in transportation costs due to the Ukraine war and the depreciation of the yen. The cost of a vial covering one patient has gone from ?300,000 ($2,135) to ?1.6 million ¡ª a five-fold increase.

The campaign, which runs through June 9 at , aims to raise ?25 million. As of Monday evening, 352 people had donated a total of ?20,030,000.