That action is based on findings from a recently completed five-year study led by Yale University, in which more than 200 residents of the Tristate took part. They were among 720 stroke victims studied. Hundreds of lives and billions of dollars are at stake in this debate. But whether medications containing PPA will be pulled off the market, reformulated or subjected to new warning labels remains to be seen. On Friday, the Enquirer interviewed Dr. Joseph Broderick, director of the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky Stroke Team, who has been involved in this issue since the early 1990s and attended the FDA committee hearing.
Most strokes occur from blockages in arteries.
But some occur because arteries burst, allowing bleeding into the brain. Hemorrhagic strokes account for about 15 percent of all strokes. We have been studying why hemorrhagic strokes occur. There have been case reports going back 20 years of people taking PPA shortly before suffering a stroke. Back in 1991 or 1992, we were approached by Yale after they got a request from the FDA to do a study.