German pharma hopes to launch seven stroke treatments by 2014

'Every day 75 Germans are killed by strokes,' said Cornelia Yzer, in a statement by the country's drug industry trade group the VFA to mark this week's Stroke Awareness Day. 'And many more are paralysed. Germany's pharmaceutical companies are therefore urgently working towards developing new drugs that lower the risk of strokes or facilitate treatment of stroke patients. Seven of these could be approved by the end of 2013,' she added.

Five of the drugs on the way have been tested for use on patients with auricular fibrillation, as people with this form of heart problem are especially vulnerable to strokes. Most of these patients have hitherto had to take daily blood thinners, which are tablets containing old-fashioned vitamin-K antagonists. These only work a day after they have been taken, however, and the dosage has to be monitored weekly with a coagulation test. Otherwise there is a threat of bleeding or strokes as a result of too little or too much anti-coagulation.

Benefits of new anti-coagulants