Discovery, development and effectiveness of coagulation-inhibiting drugs for stroke therapy

Abstract

Introduction: Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the US and the leading cause of major disability. A large variety of drugs and new therapeutic strategies are the basis for modern stroke therapy. There is scientific evidence for the effectiveness of only a few coagulation-inhibiting drugs for stroke prevention and treatment, but a lot of clinical trials have been conducted or are ongoing in order to gain more scientific data on stroke management and therapy.

Areas covered: This paper gives a general overview of modern coagulation-inhibiting drugs discovered and investigated for prevention or acute stroke therapy and offers prospects of future therapy options.

Expert opinion: Without the development of more cost-effective future therapies and implementation of extended prevention programs, stroke will remain the leading cause of disability. There is still a strong need for the discovery of novel drug therapies that effectively avoid blood clotting and stroke without increasing the risk of hemorrhage.

Keywords::

• acute stroke
• anticoagulation
• drug therapy
• stroke prevention
• stroke trials
• thrombolysis

Notes

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