AzTrials
AzTrials

StrokePhase 3NCT07784569

APEX-STROKE Adaptive Platform Trial for Stroke

A Phase 3 study testing Early Angong Niuhuang Pill Treatment, Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Mixture and Surgical bundle in people with Stroke, run by Fudan University.

Not yet recruiting

Opening soon. The study is approved but enrolment has not started yet. Sites may already take enquiries.

Official record
Search all trials

Trial summary

Stroke remains one of the leading causes of death and disability, worldwide. Despite advances in stroke management, only a limited number of acute treatments-including thrombolysis, endovascular thrombectomy, hemicraniectomy, stroke unit care, and aspirin-have demonstrated clear benefit, highlighting the need for… Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and older
Conditions the study is for
Stroke
What is being tested?
Early Angong Niuhuang Pill Treatment, Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Mixture and Surgical bundle
Could I receive a placebo?
No, everyone receives an active treatment
How many people
20,000 participants
Where
No sites listed yet
Study dates
1 Sep 2026to 28 Feb 2030
Phase
Phase 3
Are there results?
Not yet: the study is under way

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Platform Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age ≥18 years
  • Clinical diagnosis of stroke

Platform Exclusion Criteria

  • There are no platform level exclusion criteria

Each state and domain will specify additional inclusion and exclusion criteria in the respective Domain-Specific Registration. Patients who fulfill the overall platform criteria will be assessed for enrollment into each active domain.

About this study

Official title: Integrated Adaptive Platform for EXcellent Clinical Trials in STROKE (APEX-STROKE): A Multi-factorial, Multi-arm, Multi-stage, Randomized, Adaptive Platform Trial

Stroke remains one of the leading causes of death and disability, worldwide. Despite advances in stroke management, only a limited number of acute treatments-including thrombolysis, endovascular thrombectomy, hemicraniectomy, stroke unit care, and aspirin-have demonstrated clear benefit, highlighting the need for widely applicable interventions that improve outcomes. Although randomized controlled trials remain the most reliable method for evaluating treatment efficacy, conventional designs typically assess a single intervention under fixed assumptions and are often costly, resource-intensive, and time-consuming. Platform trials offer a more efficient alternative by enabling the simultaneous evaluation of multiple interventions and the ongoing addition or removal of treatment arms, thereby providing a promising approach to accelerate the identification of effective therapies and transform stroke clinical research. The overarching objective of APEX-STROKE is to identify the treatment/s associated with the highest chance of improving relevant patient outcomes in stroke.

Read the detailed description

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. According to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 Study, there were 11.9 million incident strokes, 93.8 million stroke survivors, and 7.3 million stroke-related deaths globally in 2021, making stroke the third leading cause of death after ischemic heart disease and COVID-19. Global disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) attributable to stroke rose from 121.4 million in 1990 to 160.5 million in 2021, with more than three-quarters of this burden borne by low- and middle-income countries.

Despite this burden, only a small number of acute stroke treatments have been proven effective, including thrombolysis, endovascular thrombectomy, hemicraniectomy, stroke unit care, and aspirin. Conventional randomized controlled trials test a single intervention under fixed assumptions and are often costly, resource-intensive, and slow. Adaptive platform trials (APTs) allow multiple interventions to be evaluated simultaneously within shared infrastructure, with interventions added or removed over time, offering greater efficiency than conventional designs.

APEX-STROKE is an investigator-initiated, multi-factorial, multi-arm, multi-stage, randomized, adaptive platform trial designed to identify the treatment(s) associated with the highest chance of improving patient outcomes in stroke. The platform is structured hierarchically: a Master Protocol establishes trial-wide processes, governance, and general statistical principles common to all domains; each disease State is further defined in a State Subprotocol; and each treatment Domain within a State is defined in a Domain-Specific Appendix (DSA). Full eligibility, interventions, and outcome measures for each active domain are specified in the respective DSA.

Depending on the domain, the statistical framework may be frequentist, Bayesian, or another appropriate approach, as specified in the relevant Statistical Analysis Appendix. Where pre-specified, adaptive analyses assess whether an intervention is superior, inferior, equivalent, or futile within a domain or in specific populations, and information may be "borrowed" across strata where justified. Where interactions between interventions in different domains are considered plausible, the statistical models may evaluate such interactions. Response Adaptive Randomization (RAR) may be used, where pre-specified, to adjust allocation probabilities as data accrue. Specific interventions, subgroups, or domains may be stopped, modified, or closed to enrollment based on pre-specified decision rules reviewed by an independent Data Safety Monitoring Board.

Unlike trial designs that prohibit co-enrollment, the platform design permits assessment of synergy, competitive interference, and safety of combined treatment strategies across domains, subject to pre-specified eligibility, randomization, and analysis rules. The intention-to-treat principle will be used for all primary and adaptive analyses unless otherwise specified at domain level.

Conditions
Stroke
Being tested
Early Angong Niuhuang Pill Treatment, Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Mixture, Surgical bundle
Medical subject headings
Stroke

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Early Angong Niuhuang Pill TreatmentDrug

    Participants randomized into the intervention arm receive Angong Niuhuang Pills (ANP, 3 g/pill). The initial dose is given orally for awake patients or via route-specific methods for unconscious patients: if randomized in the ambulance, a 15 mL suspension is administered sublingually (2-2.5 mL every 10 min) with the remainder via nasogastric tube (NGT) post-admission; if randomized in the ED, the suspension is given directly via NGT when indicated. Maintenance dosing follows: one pill twice daily in week 1 and once daily in week 2 (14 days total). Suspensions are prepared by grinding one shelled pill with 15 mL room-temperature saline and must be used within 1 hour.

  • Yiqi Huayu Jiedu MixtureDrug

    Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Mixture is a standardized traditional Chinese medicine oral liquid formulated based on the "benefiting qi, resolving stasis, and detoxifying" therapeutic principle for acute supratentorial hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (HICH). Each 100 mL bottle contains Red Ginseng (30 g), Notoginseng (30 g), and Raw Rhubarb (5 g), prepared under GMP standards at Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine. Administration begins within 48 hours of symptom onset for a total duration of 28 days. For patients able to take oral medication: 33 mL three times daily, taken at least 30 minutes after meals (total 100 mL/day). For patients with dysphagia, insufficient oral intake, unconsciousness, or critical illness: 25 mL via nasogastric tube four times daily (every 6 hours). The formulation aims to restore vital qi, promote blood circulation without damaging healthy qi, and eliminate pathological toxins to facilitate neurological recovery in non-surgical HICH patients.

  • Surgical bundleProcedure or surgery

    Early minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is initiated within 8 hours after symptom onset; intensive systolic blood pressure control targeting 130-140 mmHg is achieved within 1 hour post-randomisation and sustained for 7 consecutive days; tranexamic acid (TXA) haemostatic therapy: 1g loading dose infused over 10 minutes, followed by 1g maintenance dose given via 8-hour intravenous infusion, started within 30 minutes after random allocation

    • Standard guideline routine care only: All patient management is determined per local institutional ICH guidelines; elective MIS is prohibited within 12 hours of symptom onset except for emergency life-saving surgery; no mandatory intensive blood pressure management or routine TXA administration is permitted
Study groups in NCT07784569
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Angong Niuhuang Pill domainExperimentalThis domain has a prospective, randomized, controlled, open-label, parallel group with blinded endpoint assessment (PROBE) design to determine the efficacy and safety of Angong Niuhuang Pills in participants with acute ischemic stroke whose symptom onset is within 6 hours.
Receives: Drug: Early Angong Niuhuang Pill Treatment
EAGLE domianExperimentalThis domain has a prospective, randomized, controlled, open-label, parallel group with blinded endpoint assessment (PROBE) design to determine the efficacy of surgical bundles in participants with acute ischemic stroke whose symptom onset is within 8 hours.
Receives: Procedure: Surgical bundle
CHAIN-2 domainExperimentalThis study employs a multicenter, prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical trial design to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Mixture (composed of Red Ginseng, Notoginseng, and Raw Rhubarb) in participants with acute supratentorial hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (HICH) who are not undergoing surgical intervention, targeting the core syndrome pattern of "deficiency-stasis-toxin" in the acute phase.
Receives: Drug: Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Mixture

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score

    The modified Rankin Scale (mRS) is a 7-level ordered categorical scale (range: 0-6) assessing levels of disability and death after stroke, where higher scores indicate worse outcome (0 = no symptoms; 6 = death). It is not intended for use as a measure of historical functional status. It is well accepted as a standard outcome around the world in the stroke community, by patients and by regulatory authorities.

    Measured: Platform level time frame:180 days in Intracerebral Hemorrhage State; 90 days for Ischemic Stroke State. Specific time frame will be included in domain-specific registration.

Secondary outcomes (4)
  1. NIHSS score

    National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score. The NIHSS is a 15-item neurological examination scale used to quantify stroke severity, ranging from 0 (no stroke symptoms) to 42 (severe stroke), with higher scores indicating worse outcome.

    Measured: 24 hours and Day 7

  2. Mortality

    All-cause mortality will be reported as the number and proportion of participants who died from any cause by 180 days after randomization.

    Measured: 180 days

  3. Death or major disability

    Participants achieved death or major disability if they scored 3-6 on the modified Rankin Scale (mRS), a scale ranging from 0 (no symptoms) to 6 (death), with higher scores indicating worse outcome.

    Measured: 180 days

  4. Health-Related Quality of Life

    Health Related Quality of Life based on EuroQol 5 Dimension 5 Level (EQ-5D-5L).The EQ-5D-5L is a generic instrument for describing and valuing health. It is based on a descriptive system that defines health in terms of five dimensions: Mobility, Self-Care, Usual Activities, Pain/Discomfort, and Anxiety/Depression. Each dimension has five response categories corresponding to: no problems, slight, moderate, severe and extreme problems.

    Measured: Platform level time frame: 180 days in Intracerebral Hemorrhage State; 90 days in Ischemic Stroke State. Domain specific time frame may differ (details will be included in domain-specific registration)

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted25 Aug 2026
  2. Study start1 Sep 2026 (estimated)
  3. Primary completion30 Jun 2029 (estimated)
  4. Study completion28 Feb 2030 (estimated)

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase 3
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomised
Intervention model
Parallel groups
Masking
Single blind
Who is masked
Participant
Enrolment
20,000 participants (estimated)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT07784569
Sponsor's protocol ID
APEX-STROKE
Status last verified
Aug 2026
First submitted
20 Jul 2026
Last updated
25 Aug 2026
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A Phase 3 study testing Early Angong Niuhuang Pill Treatment, Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Mixture and Surgical bundle in people with Stroke, run by Fudan University.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: opening soon, as of the sponsor's last update on 25 Aug 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

What does this phase mean?

Phase 3 studies compare the treatment with the current standard treatment or a placebo in a large group, to confirm how well it works and watch for side effects.

Not every study follows the same path, and some studies (observational studies, device studies) have no phase.

Are results available for this study?

This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score (time frame: Platform level time frame:180 days in Intracerebral Hemorrhage State; 90 days for Ischemic Stroke State. Specific time frame will be included in domain-specific registration.). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 25 Aug 2026.

Free account

Log in to keep searching

You’ve used your 3 free searches. AzTrials is free: log in or create a free account to keep searching clinical trials and save the ones you want to follow.

Create a free accountLog in