Efficacy and safety of cerebrolysin in neurorecovery after moderate-severe traumatic brain injury: results from the CAPTAIN II trial

Ziganshina L.E., Abakumova T., Hoyle C.H.V.

The Cochrane review that keeps deflating the cerebrolysin story. Across pooled RCTs in acute ischemic stroke, no convincing effect on death or dependency. If you read one paper on cerebrolysin and stroke, read this one — and notice the gap between Cochrane's read and the marketing.

Poon W. et al.

CAPTAIN I — the Asian-Pacific companion to CAPTAIN II in moderate-to-severe TBI. Similar multidimensional analytic approach, similar directional benefit, similar sample-size limitation. Take the two CAPTAIN trials together as the modern cerebrolysin TBI dataset.

Cui S. et al.

The other Cochrane verdict — in vascular dementia, IV cerebrolysin courses improved cognition and global function with no adverse-event signal. A friendlier read than the stroke review; sample sizes still modest and follow-up short.

Medvedeva E.V. et al.

One of the few semax papers in an indexed English-language journal. Rat focal-ischemia model with a respectable transcriptomic readout — immune and vascular gene programs shift. Preclinical only; the Russian clinical literature on semax has not been replicated in Western trials.