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Stroke

A new CHANCE for combination antiplatelet therapy?

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Patients with transient ischaemic attack or minor ischaemic stroke have a high risk of early recurrence. A new study in Chinese patients suggests that this risk is reduced following treatment with clopidogrel plus aspirin compared with aspirin alone. However, whether the findings can be extrapolated to other populations remains unclear.

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Correspondence to Hans-Christoph Diener.

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Competing interests

H.-C. Diener has received honoraria for participation in clinical trials, contribution to advisory boards or oral presentations from: Abbott, Allergan, AstraZeneca, Bayer Vital, BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, CoAxia, Corimmun, Covidien, Daichii-Sankyo, D Pharm, EV3, Fresenius, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen Cilag, Johnson & Johnson, Knoll, MSD, Medtronic, MindFrame, Neurobiological Technologies, Novartis, Novo-Nordisk, Paion, Parke-Davis, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, Schering-Plough, Servier, Solvay, Thrombogenics, Wyeth and Yamanouchi. Financial support for research projects was provided by AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Boehringer Ingelheim, Lundbeck, Novartis, Janssen Cilag, Sanofi-Aventis, Syngis and Talecris. He was the Principal Investigator (PI) of the ESPS 2 and MATCH trials, and Co-PI of the PRoFESS trial. Dr Diener has no ownership interest and does not own stocks of any pharmaceutical company.

C. Weimar has received honoraria for participation in clinical trials, contribution to advisory boards, oral presentations or travel support from: Bayer, Biogen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Brainsgate, Bristol-Myers Squib, Co-Axia, D Pharm, Photothera, Sanofi-Aventis, Syngis, Teva, Thrombogenics. He receives project funding from Johnson & Johnson.

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Diener, HC., Weimar, C. A new CHANCE for combination antiplatelet therapy?. Nat Rev Neurol 9, 549–550 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2013.191

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