Option Care, ALS Association Partner to Offer Radicava Home Infusion Services

Option Care Enterprises, a Chicago-based independent provider of home and alternate treatment site infusion services, has partnered with the ALS Association to offer Radicava (edaravone) treatment from the comfort of their homes.

To date, more than 100 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients are already receiving Radicava — the first ALS therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in more than 20 years.

Radicava is administered intravenously into the bloodstream in 28-day cycles. Because infusions can be done at home, the FDA’s approval of the drug has led to increasing demand for home infusion services.

Option Care not only provides Radical, but also a nutrition support program and tube feeding for people living with the condition.

“We look forward to this new partnership with the ALS Association and the ability to be part of providing education, support and services to those living with the disease,” John Rademacher, the company’s CEO, said in a press release.

“We’re deeply grateful for Option Care’s willingness to support our mission of helping people with ALS and their families,” added Calaneet Balas, executive vice president of strategy at the ALS Association.

Radicava, developed by Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma to slow the decline of physical functioning in ALS patients, is marketed in the United States by MT Pharma America.

Radicava is a free radical scavenger. Free radicals occur as part of the normal cellular process of human energy production and are usually quickly eliminated. But if they remain inside, they can cause oxidative stress, believed to be one of the causes of nerve cell death in ALS.

Radicava has a neuroprotective effect, slowing the progression of ALS by removing free radicals from the nervous system. In a Phase 3 clinical trial (NCT01492686), Radicava was shown to reduce by 33 percent the decline in the ALSFRS-R score compared to those taking placebo after six months of treatment.

These significant results appeared in The Lancet Neurology and served as grounds for the FDA’s approval of Radical in May 2017.