Drug therapy in stroke: from preclinical to clinical studies

Stroke is one of the major challenges to health and the reason for increasing disability-adjusted life years. Despite tremendous progress in preclinical studies, none of the treatment options has proven efficacious in clinical studies. The basic aim of neuroprotection is to interfere with the events of the ischemic cascade, halt the pathological processes and prevent the death of vulnerable nerve cells in the ischemic penumbra.

This review will provide a brief overview of the current understanding of stroke, including the global epidemiology of stroke, its pathophysiology, the targeting of specific pathways and the success and failure of preclinical as well as clinical studies, and it will discuss the emerging targets for novel therapeutic strategies under investigation.

New advancing investigational drugs for the prevention and treatment of stroke are on the way and may someday give hope to neuroscientists and clinicians. A novel approach should adopt preclinical testing, advance the understanding of the pathophysiology of stroke and make it possible to translate it from bench to bedside. We should learn from the past failures and move on with more enthusiasm.