News

Researchers doing early-stage investigation into potential new ways to halt neuron death seen in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have received a grant from the Alabama Power Foundation. Rita Cowell, PhD, a researcher at Southern Research’s Drug Discovery division, and her team have identified certain compounds that in lab…

People with rare diseases know that the right government policies can make a big difference in the quality of their own lives, and those of their caregivers. But most lawmakers aren’t experts in even one well-known disease — let alone the world’s estimated 7,000 rare disorders. So how does the…

Scientist Manish Arora, PhD, received an $8 million Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to develop models to predict and possibly prevent diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Arora and his team developed the Biodynamic Interface, which proposes an interplay…

Researchers at California’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have re-created the blood-brain barrier, a vital component of the central nervous system, using Organ-Chip technology by Emulate. This advances the possibility of patient-specific treatments for neurodegenerative disorders, including  amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Blood-brain barrier defect has been linked to…

Low levels of membralin protein in the brain cells that support and protect neurons lead to the accumulation of the neurotransmitter glutamate to levels that induce the death of motor neurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a mouse study shows. A gene therapy that rescued the levels of…

AB Science has optimized the design of a Phase 3 confirmatory study for mastinib, its oral treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), to avoid any possibility of bias. The optimized protocol for the study (NCT03127267), not yet recruiting, was validated by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Although AB…

In the summer of 2014, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge took social media by storm. Aimed primarily at raising awareness of the disease, the effort resulted in marked increases in spending on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) research, an independent study shows. According to the report by…

MediciNova has launched the Phase 2b/3 clinical trial that will explore the potential of ibudilast (MN-166) in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Pending the success of the trial, the collected data will support the submission of a new drug application and the approval of ibudilast…

As part of a series of profiles of people doing great things for their communities, the Obama Foundation has released a video spotlighting the efforts of a patient and his wife who want to reimagine the fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The Chicago couple, Brian Wallach…

A diet monitoring app can help amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients to manage their calorie intake in order to maintain or even improve their weight, and achieve better outcomes, results from a clinical trial show. The trial also found that nutritional counseling by a registered dietitian, with or without support…