Study	Reason for exclusion
Admani 1978	Study did not evaluate the effect of the treatments on aphasia.
Albert 1988	Study was not a randomised controlled trial, but a one participant, single case study.
Albert 1992	Study was not a randomised controlled trial, but a small group before and after study.
Anonymous 1990	Study did not evaluate the effect of a drug on aphasia.
Bachman 1988	Study was not a randomised controlled trial, but a single case study of three people.
Bergmann 1951	Study was not a randomised controlled trial, but a before and after single case study on a set of people.
Beyreder 1983	Study did not evaluate the effect of a drug on aphasia.
Bragoni 1997	Although the study was a randomised controlled trial, the participants were randomised in the first instance to either speech therapy or placebo, then in the next stage of the study they received either drug or placebo, so conclusions cannot be drawn about differences between the two groups in the second (drug) stage, as any differences could be due to a carry over from the first (speech therapy) stage.
Capon 1990	Study was not a randomised controlled trial, but a placebo controlled double blind study, with no mention of randomisation. Author has been contacted, but no reply has been received.
Clark 1979	Study did not evaluate the effect of a drug on aphasia.
Darley 1977	Not all participants in the study were aphasic as result of stroke, some were so because of trauma.
Dekoninck 1987	Study included people with dysarthria as well as those with aphasia.
Ducarne 1986	Study did not evaluate the effect of a drug on aphasia.
Feeney 1990	Study was not on humans.
Franke 1996	Study did not evaluate the effect of a drug on aphasia.
Frei 1987	Study did not evaluate the effect of the treatment on aphasia.
Gelmers 1988	Study did not evaluate the effect of a drug on aphasia.
Gelmers 1990	Study did not evaluate the effect of a drug on aphasia.
Gupta 1992	Study was not a randomised controlled trial, but a single case study of two people.
Hartmann 1993	Study did not evaluate the effect of a drug on aphasia, and was not a randomised controlled trial, but a group observational study with neither control nor experimental group
Hrbek 1978	Study did not evaluate the effect of a drug on aphasia. Also it was not a randomised controlled trial but a small group single case study, and participants were not aphasic, and had not had a stroke.
Hulser 1988	Study did not evaluate the effect of treatment on aphasia. In addition it was probably not a randomised controlled trial.
IASSG 1988	Study did not evaluate the effect of treatment on aphasia.
Jacobs 1996	Study employed a number of methodologies, one element of which was a randomised controlled trial with each participant acting as their own control. However one person was included who was aphasic due to tumour not stroke.
Kabasawa 1994	Study was not a randomised controlled trial, but a small group before and after study.
Kartin 1979	Study gave no detail of whether people were randomly allocated into the two groups, and did not evaluate the effect of a drug on aphasia separately from other disorders.
Kaste 1976	Not clear if the study was a randomised controlled trial, but also it did not evaluate the effect of treatment on aphasia.
Koller 1990	Study did not evaluate the effect of treatment on aphasia.
Markov 1973	Study was not a randomised controlled trial, but a small group before and after study, with participants having aphasia or dysarthria.
McNeil 1997	Study was a single participant, double blind placebo‐controlled, multiple baseline design, but for the first nine weeks of the study comparisons appear to have been other than drug compared to a type of speech and language therapy. Any improvements during this phase could, therefore, have been due to a learning effect. No statement was made about any randomisation process.
Motomura 1993	Study was not a randomised controlled trial.
Muller 1994	Study evaluated the effects of treatment on patents with apraxia, not aphasia.
Ozeren 1995	Study was not a randomised controlled trial but a case study of four patients.
Patten 1972	Study did not evaluate the effects of a drug on aphasia separately from other disorders.
Popa 1989	Study did not evaluate the effect of treatment on aphasia.
Porch 1981	The study was retrospective. There was no control group.
Porch 1985	Study was not a randomised controlled trial but a retrospective study.
Roquefeuil 1975	Study did not evaluate the effect of a drug on aphasia. Also, it was not a randomised controlled trial, but a small group single case study which included people with aphasia of causes other that stroke.
Sabe 1992	Study was not a randomised controlled trial, but a small group before and after study of the drug given to seven consecutive people.
Sabe 1995	Although this was a randomised controlled trial, all the seven people studied were randomised to receive the drug in the first treatment arm, and placebo later in the second arm. There was therefore no control group receiving placebo at the same time as the treatment group, to allow comparisons to be made. Any better performance found in the placebo period may have been due to practice effects.
Sarno 1972	Study was not a randomised controlled trial, but a small group before and after study.
Schneider 1986	Study was not a randomised controlled trial, and does not evaluate effect of drug on aphasia separately from other disorders.
Sciclounoff 1934	As far as can be determined from the report, which is in French, the study was not a randomised controlled trial, but a before and after observational study of single cases. Also, the study does not appear to have evaluated the effect of the drug on aphasia.
SSSG 1997	Study did not evaluate the effect of treatment on aphasia.
Steiner 1986	Study did not evaluate effect of drug on aphasia
Steiner 1994	It is possible that some people in the study were dysarthric, not aphasic. Tests of function at end of trial did not evaluate aphasia separately from dysarthria.
Strand 1984	People evaluated in the study were a mixed group of some with aphasia and some with dysarthria.
Voinescu 1978	Study included people aphasic after trauma as well as those aphasic after stroke.
Walker‐Batson 1991	Study was not a randomised controlled trial but a one participant single case study.
Walker‐Batson 1992	Study was not a randomised controlled trial, but a small group single case study.
Walker‐Batson 1995	Study did not evaluate the effect of a drug on aphasia separately from other disorders.
West 1965	There is no mention of whether or not the study was a randomised controlled trial, however there was a control group and an experimental group. Study used a double blind method to ensure that neither participants nor the research team knew which group participants were in, but the pharmacist may have chosen people rather than randomly allocated them. Efforts to elicit further details have not been made due the fact that this study is 35 years old.
Willmes 1984	Study was not a randomised controlled trial, but a descriptive study of spontaneous recovery, with neither experimental nor control group.
Witzmann 1977	Paper comprises a study which did not look at effects of a drug on aphasia, and a retrospective overview of 33 other studies.
Zeigler 1993	Study evaluated the effect of a drug on apraxia, not aphasia.