Overview of human trials on neuroprotective agents in AIS
| Mechanism | Drug | Trials | Study references | Overall effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NMDAR antagonist | NA-1 | ESCAPE-NA1 | Hill et al. [8] 2020 | Negative overall, positive in patients without IV thrombolysis |
| Memantine | - | Beladi Moghadam et al. [11] 2021 | Positive in a small RCT | |
| Aptiganel hydrochloride | - | Albers et al. [12] 2001 | Negative | |
| AR-R15896AR | - | Lees et al. [13] 2001, Diener et al. [14] 2002 | Negative | |
| Selfotel | ASSIST | Davis et al. [15] 2000 | Negative | |
| Lubeluzole | SRMA of 5 trials | Gandolfo et al. [16] 2002 | Negative | |
| Gavestinel | - | Lees et al. [17] 2001 | Negative | |
| GV150526 | - | Lees et al. [18] 2000, Dyker and Lees [19] 1999 | Negative | |
| Licostinel | - | Albers et al. [20] 1999 | Negative | |
| Neu2000 | SONIC (ongoing) | Hong et al. [21] 2018 | Ongoing | |
| DAMPs antagonist | ZK 200775 | - | Walters et al. [22] 2005 | Negative |
| GABA agonist | Clomethiazole | CLASS-I | Lyden et al. [23] 2002 | Negative |
| Magnesium | Magnesium | IMAGES, FAST-MAG | IMAGES study investigators [24], Shkirkova [25] 2017, Afshari et al. [26] 2013 | Positive in 1 small RCT, negative in 2 larger RCTs |
| Free radical scavengers | Edaravone | ECCS-AIS, EDO, TASTE | Zheng and Chen [27] 2016, Sharma et al. [28] 2011, Enomoto et al. [29] 2019, Mitta et al. [30] 2012, Shinohara et al. [31] 2009, Xu et al. [32] 2021 | Positive |
| NXY-059 | SAINT I and II | Diener et al. [33] 2008, Shuaib et al. [34] 2007, Lees et al. [35] 2006 | Negative overall | |
| Citicoline | - | Clark et al. [36] 1999, Agarwal et al. [37] 2022, Warach et al. [38] 2000, Dávalos et al. [39] 2002, Kuryata et al. [40] 2021 | Positive | |
| Calcium channel blockers | Nimodipine | SRMA of 12 trials, The American Nimodipine Study | The American Nimodipine Study Group [41] 1992 | Negative overall, positive for 120 mg within 18 h in one trial |
| Verapamil | SAVER-1 | Fraser et al. [42] 2017 | Safe and feasible, no efficacy data | |
| Immune system modulation | Natalizumab | ACTION II | Elkind et al. [43] 2020 | Negative, reduced good outcome |
| MAPC | MASTERS | Hess et al. [44] 2017 | Negative overall, positive < 36 h | |
| Minocycline | SRMA of 7 small trials | Naderi et al. [45] 2020, Malhotra et al. [46] 2018 | Positive | |
| Imatinib | - | Wahlgren et al. [47] 2017 | - | |
| Antioxidants | NAC | - | Sabetghadam et al. [48] 2020 | Positive |
| co-ultraPEALut | - | Caltagirone et al. [49] 2016 | Positive compared to baseline in an observational study | |
| Butylphthalide | BAST | Zhang et al. [50] 2022 | Positive in observational study, ongoing RCT | |
| HUK | RESK | Ni et al. [51] 2021 | Positive, not placebo-controlled | |
| Melatonin | SRMA of 6 trials | Ramos et al. [52] 2020 | Negative | |
| Uric acid | URICO-ICTUS | Chamorro et al. [53] 2014 | Negative | |
| Albumin | ALIAS | Ginsberg et al. [54] 2013 | - | |
| Hypoglycaemic agents | Insulin | SHINE | Johnston et al. [55] 2019 | Negative comparing intensive vs. standard glucose control |
| Glibenclamide | - | Caffes et al. [56] 2015 | Positive in retrospective study | |
| Glyburide | GAMES, GAMES-RP | Sheth et al. [57, 58] 2014, 2016 | Negative | |
| Others | Statins | SRMA of 22 observational studies, ASSORT | Montaner et al. [59] 2008, Yoshimura et al. [60] 2017, Guo et al. [61] 2021 | Negative in RCT, positive in SRMA of observational studies |
| Cerebrolysin | SRMA of 6 trials | Wang et al. [62] 2017 | Negative | |
| Piracetam | SRMA of 3 trials | Ricci et al. [63] 2012 | Negative | |
| Theophylline | - | Modrau et al. [64] 2020 | Positive on NIHSS | |
| GTN | SRMA of 5 trials, MR ASAP trial | Bath et al. [65] 2016, van den Berg et al. [66] 2022 | Negative overall | |
| Epo | Epo stroke | Ehrenreich et al. [67] 2009 | Negative | |
| DDFPe | - | Culp et al. [68] 2019 | Positive but small sample size | |
| Otaplimastat | SAFE-TPA | Kim et al. [69] 2020 | Negative | |
| 3K3A-activated protein C | RHAPSODY | Lyden et al. [70] 2019 | Possible reduction in hemorrhagic rate | |
| Dapsone | - | Nader-Kawachi et al. [71] 2007 | Positive in pilot trial |
IV: intravenous; RCT: randomized controlled trial; ASSIST: acute stroke studies involving selfotel treatment; SRMA: systematic review and meta-analysis; SONIC: safety and optimal neuroprotection of neu2000 in AIS; GABA: gamma-aminobutyric acid; CLASS-I: clomethiazole acute stroke study in ischemic stroke; IMAGES: IV magnesium efficacy in stroke; FAST-MAG: field administration of stroke therapy-magnesium; ECCS-AIS: edaravone-citicoline comparative study in AIS; EDO: edaravone versus sodium ozagrel in acute noncardioembolic ischemic stroke; TASTE: treatment of AIS with edaravone dexborneol; NXY: disodium 2,4-sulphophenyl-N-tert-butylnitrone; SAINT: stroke-acute ischemic NXY treatment trial; SAVER: surgical anterior ventricular restoration; ACTION: safety and efficacy of IV natalizumab in AIS; MAPC: multipotent adult progenitor cells; MASTERS: MAPC in AIS; co-ultraPEALut: co-ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide/luteolin; NAC: N-acetylcysteine; BAST: butylphthalide for patients who had acute ischaemic stroke receiving IVT or EVT; RESK: re-evaluate the efficacy and safety of HUK; URICO-ICTUS: safety and efficacy of uric acid in patients with acute stroke; ALIAS: High-dose albumin treatment for acute ischaemic stroke; SHINE: the stroke hyperglycemia insulin network effort; GAMES: glyburide advantage in malignant edema and stroke; GAMES-RP: GAMES-remedy pharmaceuticals; ASSORT: administration of statin on AIS patient; NIHSS: National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale; GTN: glyceryl trinitrate; MR ASAP: multicentre randomised trial of acute stroke treatment in the ambulance with a nitroglycerin patch; Epo: erythropoietin; DDFPe: dodecafluoropentane; SAFE-TPA: safety and efficacy of otaplimastat in patients with AIS requiring TPA; RHAPSODY: safety evaluation of 3K3A-APC in ischemic stroke