FDA Fast-Tracks Bayer’s Prescription Protection Against Secondary Stroke

Modern Bayer U.S. headquarters building with glass windows and flags outside

Bayer’s OCEANIC-STROKE trial found asundexian cut recurrent ischemic stroke, secondary stroke, by 26% without significantly raising bleeding risk, revealed a study, published April 15, 2026. After these encouraging study results, on May 19, 2026, Bayer announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted priority review for asundexian, an investigational once-daily pill, for patients following a non-cardioembolic ischemic stroke* or transient ischemic attack**.

Stroke is an acquired brain injury and surviving one does not eliminate the danger. The CDC estimates stroke costs the U.S. $56.2 billion annually, straining Medicare and Medicaid. Federal programs like Million Hearts, co-led by CDC and CMS, reflect Washington’s focus on this crisis.”Secondary stroke remains a serious and persistent challenge, and the FDA’s Priority Review designation underscores the urgency of advancing potential new approaches,” said Yesmean Wahdan, M.D., of U.S. Medical Affairs at Bayer. Affecting roughly one in ten survivors within one year, a secondary stroke occurs when the same underlying conditions that caused the first, such as arterial damage and clot formation, go unresolved. Recurrences are often more severe, causing greater disability or death.

Reserved for treatments that could improve care for serious conditions, the designation accelerates the FDA’s review from ten months to six.

*Per NIH: A non-cardioembolic ischemic stroke occurs when a blood clot blocks an artery supplying blood to the brain, but the clot originates locally (e.g., from narrowed neck arteries or plaque rupture) rather than traveling from the heart.

**Per NIH: A transient ischemic attack (TIA) is a medical emergency. It is defined as a transient episode of neurologic dysfunction due to the focal brain, spinal cord, or retinal ischemia without acute infarction or tissue injury. 

Rethinking Fish Oil

Bottle of Nature's Harvest Pure Omega-3 fish oil softgels with some capsules spilled on the counter

For years, fish oil has been championed as a go-to supplement for brain health, with athletes, military veterans, and concussion patients reaching for it as a matter of routine. But a landmark 2026 study by researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and Boston University is casting serious doubt on that assumption.

The issue is EPA, which is one of the two major omega-3 fatty acids in most fish oil supplements. Researchers found that EPA may disrupt the brain’s natural blood-vessel repair process after repeated head injuries, and elevated EPA levels were also detected in postmortem CTE brain tissue. Crucially, DHA, the other primary omega-3, showed no such harmful effect.

Adding to the concern are the results of a separate 2026 study using the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. This cohort independently linked omega-3 supplement use to faster cognitive decline in older adults.

Researchers are careful to stress these findings don’t make fish oil universally dangerous. The message, however, is clear: for anyone with a history of head trauma, a conversation with your doctor is now essential before continuing supplementation.

Georgia’s Lifeline for Brain Injured Officers

When a law enforcement officer suffers a catastrophic brain injury in the line of duty, the injury itself can make it nearly impossible to ask for help. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp addressed that cruel reality on May 6, 2026, signing House Bill 1128.

Sponsored by Representative Devan Seabaugh and a stated legislative priority of the Kemp administration, HB 1128 allows for a one-time reopening of the application window for officers who have sustained brain injuries to reapply for these benefits. It also amends Georgia code so that legal guardians are notified of those benefits. The Georgia State Indemnification Fund can pay up to $150,000 for brain damage suffered in the line of duty.

“The Kemp family will always back the blue, and I’m proud to sign legislation today that ensures they are supported throughout their careers of service and into retirement,” Governor Kemp said.

Georgia State Patrol police SUV with blue and silver color scheme and state insignia

The bill corrects a painful catch-22 in which a brain injury can strip an officer of the very cognitive capacity needed to file a claim before a 24-month deadline expires. HB 1128 creates a special application window from July 1, 2026, to August 1, 2026, for public safety officers who suffered total permanent disability due to brain damage sustained in the line of duty on or before July 1, 2024, and whose capacity to apply was impaired by the injury. Unfortunately, some first responders didn’t previously know that they were eligible, which caused many to miss out on this money.

(Kemp has also championed related causes, as the same day he signed “Rio’s Law,” mandating autism-recognition training for police officers. In 2025, he signed the Dignity and Pay Act, which phased out subminimum wages for workers with disabilities. He also signed the GAME Act, in 2024, establishing a statewide framework to recruit and retain employees with disabilities in state government.)

Omega-3 May Help Aggression After Brain Injury

Amber bottle containing 120 Omega-3 fish oil softgels with white cap

For those with traumatic brain injury (TBI), aggression is a medical consequence, not a character flaw. The National Library of Medicine’s PubMed database documents aggression in up to 28% of severe TBI survivors within three months of injury, while research from the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center notes that up to 75% experience significant irritability. Damage to the prefrontal cortex, which is the brain’s critical impulse regulator, is a primary driver of these behavioral changes.

New research offers a promising nutritional direction. A University of Pennsylvania meta-analysis, available on PubMed and re-amplified by ScienceAlert in May 2026, reviewed 28 randomized controlled trials with 3,918 participants and found omega-3* supplementation reduced aggression by up to 28%. Lead researcher Adrian Raine concluded, “I think the time has come to implement omega-3 supplementation to reduce aggression, irrespective of whether the setting is the community, the clinic, or the criminal justice system.”

The biology is persuasive. DHA, the dominant omega-3 in brain tissue, concentrates in the prefrontal cortex – precisely the region TBI disrupts most – while EPA suppresses the neuroinflammatory cascade that worsens secondary injury. No TBI-specific clinical trial has yet directly targeted post-injury aggression as a primary outcome, but for survivors, omega-3 offers a low-risk, evidence-informed complement to existing care.

*Previous articles on TBIontheHill have noted additional benefits of Omega-3. Cherry-Picking Superfoods to Aid TBI Recovery (3/13/26) reported, “A cherry-chocolate brain smoothie is a good snack (tart cherries blended with cocoa powder, spinach, chia seeds, and almond milk) that delivers anthocyanins and omega-3s in one glass.” A Broader View of Diet’s Role in TBI Recovery (10/3/25) noted, “fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, and omega-3 fatty acids… These dietary interventions offer hope for… improving neurological outcomes without pharmaceutical interventions.”

VT Acknowledges Your Brain Has Rights

Vermont state flag flying on a pole with mountainous landscape in background

When Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed H.814 into law on May 18, 2026, it marked a quiet but historic moment: every Vermonter gained a legal right to the privacy of their own mind. For the brain injury community, which is a population that increasingly relies on brain-computer interfaces, AI-powered rehabilitation tools, and wearable neurotechnology, the law provides a crucial layer of protection for some of the most intimate data imaginable.

Formally titled “An act relating to neurological rights and the use of artificial intelligence technology in health and human services,” H.814 takes effect July 1, 2026. The bill legally recognizes what should already be commonsense: every Vermonter has a right to “mental and neural data privacy,” “the freedom of thought,” and protection from “unauthorized access to or manipulation of an individual’s brain activity.” For those with brain injuries who depend on neurotechnology for communication, mobility, or cognitive support, that last phrase is a safeguard for the data generated at the most vulnerable intersection of their lives.

With this bill, Vermont joins Colorado, California, Montana, and Connecticut, though each of which has taken a distinct approach to neurological privacy. Colorado and California moved first in 2024, amending existing consumer privacy statutes to classify neural data as sensitive personal information. Montana went further with a standalone law amending its Genetic Information Privacy Act, requiring robust consent and uniquely prohibiting the storage of neural data in U.S.-sanctioned countries. Connecticut’s 2025 amendment was narrower, covering only the central nervous system. Vermont’s law aligns most closely with Connecticut’s, in that it establishes specific rights, while directing the state’s AI Advisory Council to develop further ethical guidelines, which extends through 2030.

Sponsored by State Representative Brian Cina, a clinical social worker, Vermont’s new legislation, and beyond the aforementioned five states that have similar laws, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Illinois, and New York are currently advancing similar bills. For the brain injury community, the question is no longer whether neurotechnology will be part of care and recovery, as it already is. The question is whether the law will keep pace.

Laughter May Be the Brain’s Best Medicine

Man and woman laughing with a therapy dog wearing a Doctor Bark vest

After a car accident in 2023, the therapists of a brain injured 19-year-old Kansas teen had an unconventional tool ready: dad jokes. The groan-worthy punchlines weren’t just comic relief, they were medicine. And a growing body of science backs that up.

Research indexed in the National Library of Medicine confirms that laughter triggers real, measurable changes in the injured brain. A 2023 PLOS ONE meta-analysis found that a single bout of spontaneous laughter slashes cortisol, the body’s chief stress hormone, by up to 36.7%. Since high cortisol after TBI is linked to poorer survival outcomes, anything that lessens it matters enormously. A 2017 PET-imaging study in the Journal of Neuroscience showed that laughing with others floods the brain’s reward centers with natural opioids, promoting calm and connection.

New 2026 research adds another dimension. A comprehensive neurodevelopmental analysis published in May 2026 found that processing humor is genuinely cognitively demanding – activating working memory and the frontal lobes in ways that stimulate neuroplasticity, essentially giving the recovering brain a workout. Separately, a University of Vienna brain-scanning study published in January 2026 in Frontiers in Neuroscience, and available in the National Library of Medicine database, found that laughter behavior directly predicted bonding, pro-sociality, and social liking between people – outcomes that matter deeply to TBI survivors rebuilding their lives.

As vis turns out, the best medicine may truly be free.

The Chemical Time Bomb in Orange County

Workers in high-visibility vests wearing masks walking in a dusty warehouse near caution-taped barrels

A catastrophic chemical emergency has engulfed Orange County, California, forcing more than 50,000 residents to flee after a massive tank of methyl methacrylate ruptured at the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove. Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency. President Trump also approved of Newsom’s request for federal aid, unlocking critical FEMA resources to help stabilize the crisis.

What many people don’t realize is that many chemicals, including methyl methacrylate, don’t just threaten the lungs. They also target the brain. Research published on NIH’s PubMed has found that methyl methacrylate causes measurable neurological deficits in exposed industrial workers, impairing memory, learning, and movement. One study documented that vapor exposure depressed electrical activity in the hippocampus, the brain’s memory center. The neurological symptoms of exposure, like headaches, lethargy, and a heavy, numb sensation in the limbs, can take days or weeks to appear.

As research further reveals, chronic exposure can cause degenerative changes in the brain and permanent nerve damage. Children, the elderly, and those with respiratory conditions face the greatest risk. As Garden Grove begins to recover, the invisible injury to thousands of brains is only beginning to unfold.

Workers in high-visibility vests wearing masks walking in a dusty warehouse near caution-taped barrels

This concern over industrial chemical dust is not new. California already has the strictest regulations on chemical plants and manufacturers of any state. Proposition 65 states that these companies must provide public warnings if they emit or use hundreds of chemicals linked to cancer or reproductive harm. Beyond just being one of the first states to mandate regulations, New Jersey also imposes some of the most rigorous chemical safety and security standards. Additionally, with the Matt Haller Act, Illinois enforces some of the strictest emission regulations. As Illinois Senator Dick Durbin captured in a 2017 letter addressed to the CDC Director: “It is clear that public exposure to [industrial chemical] dust can lead to serious health, safety, and environmental issues.”

Honoring Congressman Pascrell’s Brain Injury Legacy

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce voted 43-0, to advance H.R. 1493 on May 21, 2026. Introduced by Representative Frank Pallone (NJ), alongside a bipartisan list of original co-sponsors Rob Menendez (NJ), Don Bacon (NE), and Dan Crenshaw (TX)*, the bill would both reauthorize and expand important federal programs related to traumatic brain injury and retitle the CDC’s national TBI surveillance and registry program; as proposed, the program would be known as The Bill Pascrell, Jr., national program for traumatic brain injury surveillance and registries.

The naming is fitting. The late New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell was a fierce advocate for the brain injury community. Over 20 years, he urged Congress and federal agencies to confront issues related to brain injury, which he frequently described as America’s “silent epidemic”. In 2001, he co-founded the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force.

The unanimous bipartisan vote proves that both parties recognize Pascrell’s irreplaceable contributions to millions of Americans living with brain injuries.

* The bill has since gained an additional 3 bipartisan co-sponsors: Christopher Deluzio (PA), John H. Rutherford (FL), Eugene Simon Vindman (VA).

Congress Seeks to Declare Stroke a National Health Crisis

Stroke emergency awareness infographic with F.A.S.T. signs and emergency contact instructions

“Recognizing stroke as a national health crisis requiring immediate, coordinated Federal action.” – So reads the heading of H.R. 1287, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on May 14, 2026, during American Stroke Month. “Whereas time is critical in acute stroke care, and for every minute of treatment delay, nearly 2,000,000 neurons are at risk of permanent damage,” it continues.

Sponsored by Rep. George Latimer (NY), and co-sponsored by Rep. Debbie Dingell (MI), this resolution was promptly referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where it awaits further action. The Dingell family has a long legislative history related to brain injury. Ms. Dingell’s late husband, Rep. John Dingell, former chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, submitted a committee report on the Stroke Treatment and Ongoing Prevention Act to the 110th Congress. That legislation strengthened stroke education, prevention, and treatment programs. Ms. Dingell has since supported the brain-injured community, through such actions as sponsoring the Better Care Better Jobs Act of 2023.

When the Vault Goes Wrong: Pole Vaulting and the Risk of Brain Injury

A student athlete from Eastlake North High School in Ohio is recovering after sustaining a brain injury during a pole vault event at a track meet at Mayfield High School. According to reports and community updates, the student athlete’s pole broke while he was vaulting at maximum height. He fell straight down and struck his head on the vault box, a metal plant box that holds the pole.

Female athlete in a blue and yellow uniform vaulting over a high bar with pole during a track and field event

Outdoor track and field is the most popular sport for girls at the high school level, with 513,808 participants in 2024–25, and participation on the boys’ side surged to 644,235 athletes during that time period. Recently, social media and sports streaming platforms have also enhanced pole vaulting’s visibility, which has attracted new entrants and expanding its base.

Despite its appeal, pole vaulting carries serious risks. A 2001 NIH-indexed study in the American Journal of Sports Medicine reviewed 32 catastrophic pole vault injuries reported between 1982 and 1998, finding that all occurred at an average age of 17.5 years, with 31 being catastrophic head injuries. Three means of injury dominated: athletes landing with their body on the pad but their head striking surrounding hard ground, missing the pad entirely, and prematurely releasing the pole. A 2012 follow-up study, also indexed on PubMed, found that from 2003 to 2011, 19 catastrophic injuries occurred. Averaging 2.1 per year, it was reported that 74% of these injuries involved athletes landing in or around the vault box, with 58% resulting in major head injuries.

Rule changes in 2003 by the NCAA, NFHS [National Federation of State High School Associations], and USA Track and Field – including enlarged landing pad dimensions – led to an 88% reduction in catastrophic injuries, with no fatalities reported since. Still, risks remain. Athletes can reduce injury risk by using properly rated poles, training under certified coaches, and considering ASTM [American Society for Testing and Materials]-certified helmets. Recent 2026 NFHS rule changes also clarified that padding requirements now apply to raised concrete or platform extensions above ground level that pose injury risks during falls.

The Eastlake North case is a reminder that even with two decades of safety improvements, more must be done to protect young athletes who soar.