After the failures of numerous drug candidates over two decades, an experimental treatment has been shown to protect the brain from some of the damage caused by strokes, drug industry executives and doctors said yesterday. The drug, called Cerovive, reduced disability from stroke in a late-stage clinical trial involving 1,700 people, according to the product's developers, AstraZeneca and Renovis. The companies are conducting a second late-stage, or Phase 3, trial. They say if the results, due the first half of next year, are positive, they will apply late next year for federal approval. Shares of Renovis, a biotechnology company in...