Table 3.
Current and promising therapeutics for treatment of ischemic stroke.
| Therapy | Functionality | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Alteplase | Tissue plasminogen activator used for thrombolysis. Only FDA approved pharmacological treatment. Only utilized within 3–4.5 h of stroke. | Bansal et al., 2013; Sifat et al., 2017; Clarke and Ayala, 2019 |
| Mechanical thrombectomy | An FDA approved treatment that utilizes a catheter to navigate blood vessels to the site of the clot for mechanical disruption. Has shown efficacy, but is a difficult procedure and only 10% of patients fit the criteria for treatment. | Mokin et al., 2014; Lapergue et al., 2020 |
| Cerebrolysin | A mixture of brain-derived neuropeptides that exhibits anti-excitatory, anti-inflammatory, and anti-apoptotic activity. Approved in over 40 countries outside of the United States. | Goenka et al., 2019 |
| Magnesium sulfate | An anti-excitatory treatment designed for neuroprotection. Has demonstrated a mixture of success and failure in clinical trials. | Lampl et al., 2001; Muir et al., 2004; Saver et al., 2015 |
| Minocycline | An antibiotic designed for neuroprotection that displays anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic properties. It has demonstrated success in animal models but has been met with mediocre success in clinical trials. | Fagan et al., 2010; Karsy et al., 2017 |
| Edaravone | An anti-oxidant therapy approved for the treatment of ischemic stroke in Japan, but not the US. Has demonstrated some success in clinical trials. | Kimura et al., 2012; Kikuchi et al., 2013 |
| DI-3-n-butylphthalide (NBP) | A synthetic compound with intrinsic anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and anti-apoptotic properties approved for the treatment of stroke in China and currently in clinical trials in the United States. | Li et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2019 |
| Liraglutide/exenatide | Glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists that reduce infarct size and improve neurological function in animals. Ongoing clinical trials. | Sato et al., 2013; Zhu et al., 2016 |
| Neurotophin-3 | A neurorestorative therapy that has demonstrated neurogenesis in animal models but no success in humans. | Vilar and Mira, 2016; Duricki et al., 2019 |