SINGAPORE-BASED drug firm Moleac, which has turned a traditional Chinese medicine into a treatment for stroke patients, said it would launch a clinical trial for the product in Oct.

NeuroAid, which is made up of a mixture of 14 extracts and includes plants such as red sage and milkvetch roots, is currently sold in China, and in Singapore respectively as an alternative medicine for stroke patients, and a Chinese medicine to support neurological functions.

If the clinical trial is successful, NeuroAid would be recognised as a mainstream post-stroke treatment and marketed in medical channels in in major markets including Europe and the United States, said David Picard, CEO of Moleac.

Traditional Chinese medicine is regarded as an alternative medicine in the West, although in China it is a key mode of modern health care.

Today, the only treatment available for Ischemic stroke - the most common kind of stroke caused by a clot or other blockage disrupting the flow of blood to the brain - is the clot-buster t-PA, but it has to be given within 3 hours and less than 5 per cent of stroke victims get it.

Other stroke drugs have failed trials. German biotech firm Paion AG and its US partner Forest Laboratories 's experimental stroke treatment failed in May while AstraZeneca's stroke drug NXY-059 flopped last year.

Moleac, set up in 2002 and part of Singapore's drive for a biomedical industry, told Reuters in an interview last year that it expected to sell NeuroAid in Europe and the US this year. -- REUTERS