Project Overview

In 2017, Canada saw 89,500 new strokes in people aged 20 and older and counted 878,500 people living with stroke. Developing innovative therapeutics, devices, and clinical interventions for this population, many of whom experience long-term disability, has been a priority for the stroke community. To evaluate these new approaches, the community has agreed that large-scale, multi-site clinical trials are critical. In 2017, a group of Canadian stroke recovery researchers realized that to move the field forward, they needed to bring together Canada’s stroke recovery investigators to facilitate multi-site clinical trials. This was the genesis of the Canadian Stroke Recovery Clinical Trials platform (CanStroke) which now includes eight sites from across Canada. This platform is a world-first and has been a true Canadian success story. With five trials underway, another five in development, and demand from both Canadian and international academic researchers and industry, CanStroke can no longer satisfy the demand without expansion. Expansion will not only increase the platform’s capacity for trials but will also allow for enhancements that will be of benefit not only to the research community but also the broader stroke population: improved diversity and representation in patient recruitment to better reflect Canadian society, an open access knowledge hub/database, and enhanced training programs to ensure long-term momentum and leadership in stroke recovery. The impact of expanding this unique infrastructure dedicated to stroke recovery will be three-fold: 1) Canada-wide adoption of effective therapies in stroke recovery; 2) improved clinical care and outcomes; and 3) a sustainable, efficient, world-leading platform for stroke recovery trials. CanStroke is poised to help take the numerous innovations in stroke recovery from ideas to reality, transforming outcomes for the millions world-wide affected by stroke.

Principal Investigator

Sean Dukelow , University of Calgary

Partners and Donors

University of Calgary

CPSR

Sunnybrook