Improving the efficiency of the development of drugs for stroke

David W. Howells, Emily S. Sena, Victoria O'Collins, Malcolm R. Macleod

The mortality and morbidity associated with stroke makes the development of new drugs a research priority. Unsuccessful clinical trials have dampened enthusiasm for the development of neuroprotective drugs. The article Improving the efficiency of the development of drugs for stroke published as in the Translational research edition of the international Journal of stroke use empirical evidence derived from systematic reviews of stroke drug development to identify stages of drug development which might be improved and proposes helpful exemplar strategies and basic economic modeling assessing the impact of these strategies.

Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins Managing Editor of the International Journal of Stroke spoke to Assoc. Professor David Howells from The Florey Institute of Neurosciences and Mental Health.

Blood biomarkers may be useful in diagnosis, prediction or treatment for stroke, unfortunately discovery of these elusive blood biomarkers has so far been uneventful. However, there is hope according to the review Blood biomarkers in stroke: research and clinical practice published online and in hard copy in this month’s Translational research edition of IJS authored by William Whiteley, Yingfang Tian, and Glen C Jickling.

Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins Managing Editor of the International Journal of Stroke spoke to Professor William Whitely about research into biomarkers and their potential use in clinical practice.

Many reasons exist for this translational failure including the heterogeneity of human stroke and the lack of methodological agreement between pre-clinical and clinical studies, in the translational edition of the International Journal of Stroke Dr Brad Sutherland et al from the Acute Stroke Programme, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom address this in their manuscript Neuroprotection for ischaemic stroke: translation from the bench to the bedside Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins, Managing Editor of the International Journal of Stroke spoke to Dr Brad Sutherland.

The use of animals in scientific research is highly controversial. In the recent article for the Translational Research edition by Neil Levy, neuro-ethicist and ARC Future Fellow based at the Florey Neuroscience and Mental Health Institutes he explores from his expert perspective the use of animal as models and the ethical considerations of this research element.

Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins, Managing Editor of the International Journal of Stroke spoke to Neil Levy.

The article ‘Stem cells in stroke treatment: the promise and the challenges’ published in the IJS translational research edition looks at challenges facing the development of stem cell therapy for stroke. Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins Managing Editor of the International Journal of Stroke spoke to author John Sinden from ReNeuron Limited, Guildford in the UK who coauthored this paper with Keith Muir.