RE: NIHSS decrease and sp next week?Highly unlikely there will be a decrease in the NIHSS.
As another poster stated, the only variable here is the Epo. We already have the results of 14 patients who have undergone treatment and the score was 8.8. It was statistically consistent, if not significant, between the two combined trials.
If there was to be a statistical error with the small number of patients in the meta analysis it would most likely be to the downside - meaning it would have been lower. The greater the number of patients enrolled, the less impact potential non-responders will have.
Just for argument sake - let's say that 50% of the Phase 11b patients are non responders and the rest respond consistent with the meta analysis, we would still arrive at an NIHSS decrease of somewhere around 5 for all cohorts combined. That is with HALF showing no response from treatment. The only way that any of the 14 patients already treated could have shown no response is if some of the other scored at 9, 10 or higher. The numbers are right there.