Going Gangbusters on Stroke

The field of acute ischemic stroke is highly promising but enormously risky and fraught with disappointment. With the exception of tPA, no one has ever demonstrated a pharmaco-mechanism which produces efficacy in the clinic. For now, the key to success for companies will be good efficacy and safety data. Start-ups will need partners, but even alliances with major pharmaceutical companies don’t represent a short-term validation of their efforts, since even big companies are stumbling in this field.