HonorHealth Research Institute announces first patient dosed with new stroke treatment
Esme Needham | February 2, 2026 | News story | Research and Development | HonorHealth Research Institute, Neurology, ischemic stroke
HonorHealth Research Institute, a research institution collaborating with a wide range of experts to produce new treatments and devices, has announced the first patient dosed with BB-031, an investigational stroke treatment.
BB-031 works to target platelets, rather than the clotting proteins usually targeted by stroke treatments, in order to reopen blocked blood vessels in the brain. It is the first new stroke medication created in over three decades. HonorHealth is dosing patients with BB-031 as part of a national clinical trial across the US, and their site is the only site in Arizona to host the trial.
Stroke is the fourth highest cause of death in the US, with more than 160,000 deaths caused by stroke annually. It is also a significant cause of long-term disability in adults. Characteristic symptoms include weakness, difficult in speaking and balancing, vision loss and confusion.
The two main types of stroke are haemorrhagic stroke, caused by bleeding in the brain, and ischemic stroke, caused by a blocked blood vessel. Ischemic stroke accounts for 85% of stroke cases.
The Recanalization in Acute Ischemic StrokE (RAISE) trial, conducted at sites including HonorHealth, centres on ischemic stroke.
The first patient dosed with BB-031 at HonorHealth was not eligible to be given current stroke therapies, including a clot-dissolving medication and a mechanical thrombectomy, as both of these treatments must be administered soon after symptoms of stroke begin. The clot-dissolving medication must be given within 4.5 hours, and the thrombectomy must be performed within 24 hours.
Ashutosh Jadhav, medical director of Stroke Services and Endovascular Neurosurgery at HonorHealth, said: “We’ve been without an alternative for a long time. There is a great deal of excitement that we may be able to expand our toolkit and give every patient the best chance possible. This represents a completely new approach to treating ischemic stroke.”
