It was unbelievably difficult to watch as Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa took that scary hit to his head during the game against the Cincinnati Bengals on September 29th. Just days earlier after taking a hit to the head in the game against the Buffalo Bills,  fans watched as Tua stumbled and  subsequently left the field.  It seemed obvious as a viewer that he was in the concussion protocol … until we saw him back after halftime.  Should he have even been playing in the game against the Bengals just days after apparently suffering a head injury just a few days earlier?  Despite showing gross motor instability after a hit in the game against the Bills, Tua was not in concussion protocol. 

There are better protocols and other safety measures today then there were just a few years ago, such as independent neurologists at games.  These measures clearly failed Tua. 

There’s no doubt that players have competing interests.  They want to get back into the game, yet maybe – probably – they often  shouldn’t. It’s their careers vs. their health.  There are people out there whose job it is to evaluate the players and make informed decisions about whether it’s safe for them to go back into the game or into concussion protocol.  After the events with Tua, there was an investigation into his injuries, and the NFL and the NFL Players Association have agreed that protocols have to change “to enhance player safety.”  The updated protocol adds ataxia — or gross motor instability — to the list of  symptoms that call for the immediate removal of a player from a game.

There’s so much we don’t yet know about brain injuries, but scientists are learning more every day about brain injuries and how the brain works.  We know, for example,  that often debilitating symptoms can last for months and years. Over the past 20 years research has increasingly linked concussions to neurogenerative conditions, including dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and CTE, a degenerative brain disease.  Scientists at Boston University found CTE in 99% of the brains from former NFL players. 

For me this points to the need to dramatically increase our focus on effective treatment for concussions.  Treatment hasn’t changed much since football was invented back in the 1880s.   Despite huge advances in other areas of medicine, there are currently no effective pharmacological FDA-approved treatments for concussion. I hope to help change that.  Just over five years ago I joined a small clinical stage company, Oxeia Biopharmaceuticals, that has a concussion drug that has shown promising interim results in a Phase 2 clinical trial.

Biopharma companies need entities to advance their research so they can develop treatments for a concussion’s immediate symptoms, as well as the underlying damage.  Perhaps those with a vested interest in finding a cure should step up to the plate.

While Tua’s injuries triggered national debate about concussions and football, if we’re honest with ourselves, much of the appeal of football for players and fans alike is the speed, the power, the hits, the risk, and the violence.  We’re never going to make the game of football 100% safe, but we owe it to football players to make it as risk-free as possible with a combination of safety measures and effective treatments, so that we don’t fail all the future Tua Tagovailoas at every level of football. 

Michael Wyand, DVM, PhD, is the CEO of Oxeia Biopharmaceuticals. Oxeia is conducting Phase 2 human clinical studies for its therapeutic drug, OXE-103, to treat concussions.  www.oxeiabiopharma.com