Inexpensive drug goes through stroke prevention trial

Many more people write much  better about clinical trials than I do, so I don't do it very often.

However, I was a bit surprised by an article I ran across an upcoming trial about the drug methotrexate for stroke prevention. Why? In at least one of its form, it's cheap. I have a relative who took  it for rheumatoid arthritis, and the cost was nominal.

So, I hope there is some success in the use of this potentially inexpensive medication. Not a bad idea to check back on its progress from time to time, especially through your own doctor.

Here's a link to a MedPage Today article and a small excerpt:

"We believe that the concept of reducing inflammation has enormous potential as a new method to reduce the burden of heart attack and stroke for our patients," Ridker said in a press release.

Selection of the planned 350 to 400 sites for the trial is to begin in November, with patient recruitment in the U.S. and Canada to get under way in March 2013, according to an NHLBI statement.

Methotrexate, an antifolate drug, has powerful anti-inflammatory properties. It's the standard disease-modifying drug for rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. At higher doses, the drug suppresses cell proliferation and is used to treat various cancers.