BACKGROUND: The development of acute stroke therapy has proven to be a daunting task, with a few successful and many unsuccessful trials. New strategies need to be considered to enhance the chances for success in future trials.

SUMMARY OF REVIEW: The third Stroke Therapy Academic Industry Roundtable (STAIR) conference focused on issues related to increasing the percentage of acute stroke patients who might be included in acute stroke therapy trials and ultimately treated with drugs proven to be effective. A second focus was directed at the need for implementing multimodality stroke trials and potential ways to organize such trials in the near future. Finally, concepts for organizing and implementing acute stroke trials that incorporate current, state of the art trial methodology were discussed.

CONCLUSIONS: It is hoped that these suggestions will enhance future stroke trials and the development of effective, new acute stroke treatments that are maximally effective and utilized.