Table 5.

Potential Therapy Selection Criteria

Criterion	Rationale
FDA approval	Therapies approved for human use more readily translate to clinical studies
Efficacy	Therapies with efficacy in previous experimental TBI studies are more likely to prove successful in further pre-clinical testing
PD/PK in species	Facilitates dose and time and route of administration selection
BBB permeability	Increases likelihood of achieving therapeutic levels in brain
Human use	Therapies with long histories of use in humans are less likely to have significant negative side effects
Known targets/Mechanisms	Facilitates monitoring of dose and time/route of administration efficacy; therapies with multiple targets/mechanisms may act on multiple deleterious pathways
Novelty	High risk/high reward

BBB, blood–brain barrier; FDA, Food and Drug Administration; PD/PK, pharmacodynamics/pharmacokinetics.