Declaration of interest
SP is the coordinating investigator of the PROOF trial. JCB is the national co-coordinator for the French centres of the PROOF trial. ABS is on the scientific advisory board for the PROOF trial, is the deputy principal investigator of the New England Regional Coordinating Center for the for the NINDS Stroke Trials Network (NIH U10-NS086729) and is on the scientific advisory board for the Biogen sponsored ACTION-II clinical trial. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.