Boehringer Ingelheim event highlights need for EU stroke prevention strategy

Boehringer Ingelheim has sponsored a recent event to highlight the need for a comprehensive EU strategy to address the threat of stroke and cardiovascular disease.

The recent lunch debate involved MEPs, patient organisations and medical experts and was intended the highlight the growing threat posed by heart conditions such as atrial fibrillation (AF) in Europe.

It was noted that although the European Commission is currently supporting 25 cardiovascular disease research programmes, there remains no unified strategy to adopt a coordinated approach to tackling the issue between member states.

The importance of doing so was underlined by the fact that the population of Europe is ageing, meaning the prevalence of heart disease and subsequent strokes is likely to increase.

MEP Antigoni Papadopoulou said: "The European Parliament called upon the European Commission to develop a strategy but not enough progress has been made so far. It is time to act."

Earlier this year, Boehringer Ingelheim published new data to support the efficacy of its developmental drug dabigatran etexilate in preventing strokes among AF patients.