WSC 2026 | One big question with Mike Sharma: how will asundexian transform secondary stroke prevention?
Mike Sharma, MD, MSc, FRCPC, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, discusses how asundexian could change secondary stroke prevention over the next five years, with the goal of bringing the risk of recurrent stroke as close to zero as possible. Prof. Sharma explains that clinicians will need to shift from assessing risk to asking whether patients will benefit, and to clearly communicate what patients can expect. He hopes that in five years many eligible patients will be taking asundexian, leading to lower rates of recurrent stroke and lower costs to patients, healthcare systems and society. This interview took place at the 18th World Stroke Congress (WSC) in Seoul, Korea.
These works are owned by Magdalen Medical Publishing (MMP) and are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All rights are reserved.
Transcript
So, you know, our goal with secondary stroke prevention is to bring the risk of another stroke as close to zero as possible. And I think this is a big advance. What I hope to see in five years is that everyone who can benefit from asundexian is taking it, which is a large number of people. Now, in order to get there, we as clinicians will need to change our thinking. Right now, it’s really based on an assessment of risk...
So, you know, our goal with secondary stroke prevention is to bring the risk of another stroke as close to zero as possible. And I think this is a big advance. What I hope to see in five years is that everyone who can benefit from asundexian is taking it, which is a large number of people. Now, in order to get there, we as clinicians will need to change our thinking. Right now, it’s really based on an assessment of risk. A very different way of thinking is, will this patient benefit from it? Because I know there isn’t additional harm. Now, that may sound straightforward, but we’re going to have to reorder our brains to get there. The other thing is being able to communicate trial results, expectations clearly to patients. So patients know what to expect, know that this doesn’t magically eliminate bleeding, because again, it may happen to people who are taking no agents at all, and what course of action to take if that occurs. So my hope is, in five years, we’ll have many patients on asundexian, we’ll have lower rates of recurrent stroke, lower costs to human beings, lower costs to the healthcare system and society, and get toward our goal of a zero chance of recurrence.
This transcript is AI-generated. While we strive for accuracy, please verify this copy with the video.
Read more...
Disclosures
Consultant: Bayer, Regeneron, Anthos; Speakers Bureau: Bayer; The institution of Dr. Sharma has received research support from Bayer.
