PRoFESS® trial: future impact on secondary stroke prevention

September 2007

Within the next five years, Prof H.-C. Diener from the University of Duisburg-Essen, one of the leading PRoFESS® investigators, expects that treatment of patients with ischaemic stroke or TIA will be largely influenced by the results of the PRoFESS® trial. It will either show superiority of one antiplatelet regimen over another or, in the case of equivalence, will identify subgroups of patients who might benefit more from extended-release dipyridamole + aspirin or clopidogrel. Efficacy of telmisartan with a good safety and tolerability profile would add further benefit for secondary stroke prevention. The results of PRoFESS® will advance the clinical management of stroke patients in the future, and more precisely identify how to treat the different types of patient at risk of recurrent stroke. The results will be presented in May 2008 at the ESC in Nice, France.