Lou Gehrig’s disease, or ALS, seems similar to Alzheimer’s disease but attacking the body rather the brain. There is no cure for either disease, and the ailment just continues to progress and leave you more and more debilitated. However, USA Today recently ran an article about three promising themes:
- A new drug—developed in part with money from the 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge—increased the average survival of patients in clinical trials by 7.5 months.
- A first-ever clinical trial is testing multiple ALS treatments at once; and
- Record levels of federal research funding are planned for this year.
Many are hopeful that Amylyx’s AMX0035 which got a $2.2 million grant from the $111 million Ice Bucket Challenge, will be approved by the FDA. Findings for AMX0035’s Phase 2 trial were so promising that the ALS community is pushing the FDA to fast track approval. They have gone so far as to ask the FDA to skip a Phase 3 trial, the only time in history that the ALS Association has asked the FDA to do so. However, it’s a long-shot. If you or a loved one are struggling with ALS, contact the Monterey Chapter of ALS here:
http://web.alsa.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=14647&NONCE_TOKEN=D30086CF168CADF46857EB53C986C9EA