Yale to lead stroke study

The School of Medicine will lead a $33 million trial to examine a novel approach for preventing stroke—the Insulin Resistance Intervention after Stroke (IRIS) trial. Sponsored by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the IRIS trial will test the effectiveness of reducing insulin resistance with pioglitazone, compared with placebo, for preventing recurrent stroke and myocardial infarction among nondiabetic stroke patients with a recent ischemic stroke and insulin resistance.

“This is the first trial that will look at the effect of this drug specifically to prevent clinically significant vascular events in nondiabetic patients,” said principal investigator Walter N. Kernan, M.D., associate professor of medicine.

Researchers at Yale designed the study and will coordinate its conduct at more than 60 research sites in the United States and Canada, recruiting more than 3,000 nondiabetic men and women over 45 who have insulin resistance and have had a recent ischemic stroke.