PEG-SOD Offers Improvement In Head Injury Outcome

Patients with severe closed head injury treated with the free-radical scavenger PEG-SOD (polyethylene glycol-superoxide dismutase) showed an 18% relative improvement in favorable outcome compared to placebo, according to results of a Phase III trial presented by Paul Muizelaar of Wayne State University at the 44th annual meeting of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons in Chicago, USA.

Dr Muizelaar said that while the results did not achieve statistical significance, they suggest that PEG-SOD might be the first drug able to improve the functional outcome of severely head-injured patients.

In the randomized, placebo-controlled study of 463 patients, those receiving 10,000 units/kg of PEG-SOD as a single intravenous injection within eight hours of injury had an 18% relative improvement in good and moderate outcome compared to those on placebo. The neurological outcome was measured by the Glasgow Outcome Scale. Dr Muizelaar reported that there was no significant difference in the safety profile of the drug compared to placebo.