Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability; despite substantial investment in preclinical research and clinical trials, few effective treatments are available. A possible reason for this is that preclinical data are not used efficiently in the design of clinical trials, through a lack of rigorous critical appraisal or objective assessment of the preclinical evidence offered. The objectives here were firstly to establish a role for network meta-analysis in establishing the effectiveness of novel compounds in the context of the evidence for effectiveness of existing compounds, to establish whether the new compound offers material advantages; and secondly to establish a framework for the collation of such data, collected in the context of systematic review, using a common standard format to ensure inter-operability.