Intravenous Ancrod for the Treatment of Acute Ischemic Stroke Within 6 Hours After Onset of Symptoms

Treatment of acute stroke is still difficult and the only specific drug approved (rtPA) can only be administered if treatment starts within 3 hours after onset of symptoms. This results in a still too small number of patients treated with rtPA ( \< 15% in best clinical care institutions ). Ancrod is a differently acting biological drug which has been used for a long time but not for acute stroke treatment. STAT was the first RCT of medium size to show a significant benefit/risk ration if treatment starts within 3 hours. ESTAT was designed closely related to STAT but with a longer 6 hours window and specifically extended inclusion/exclusion criteria to avoid secondary complications possibly related to a longer time window.