⁃ A patient will be eligible for inclusion in the study if he/she fulfills the following criteria:

• Adult males or females aged 18 - 80 years of age.

• Consent obtained per national laws and regulations, and in accordance with the applicable ethics committee requirements prior to study procedures.

• A stroke is ischemic in origin that is diagnosed clinically and/or radiologically confirmed by Computed Tomography (CT) scan or diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) prior to enrolment. No hemorrhage as proved by cerebral CT/MRI scan.

• Cerebral ischemic stroke patients presenting within 24 hours after the onset of symptoms with NIHSS score of ≥8 and \<20, NIHSS Level of Consciousness (1A) score \<2 at the time of screening. This includes cerebral ischemic stroke patients who completely recovered from earlier episodes before having a new or fresh stroke having a pre-stroke historical measure of mRS score of 0-2.

• The patient is \<24 hours from the time of stroke onset when the first dose of sovateltide is administered. Time of onset is when symptoms began; for stroke that occurred during sleep, time of onset is when the patient was last seen or was self- reported to be normal.

• Reasonable expectation of availability to receive the full sovateltide/placebo course of therapy and to be available for subsequent follow-up visits.