News

Alabama-based Southern Research has appointed neurodegenerative diseases expert Rita Cowell as chair of its neuroscience department to help expand research into potential cures for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Cowell’s work has focused on the root causes of why people develop neurodegenerative diseases that lack…

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis may have more in common with other neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases than previously assumed, a study indicates. It concluded that those with ALS are also more likely to develop another neurodegenerative or psychiatric disorder. And the reverse is also true: Those with a neurodegenerative disease or a psychiatric condition…

MT Pharma America, maker of Radicava (edaravone), an intravenous treatment for adults with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), has changed its name to Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America (MTPA). In February 2016, MTPA’s parent company, the Japanese Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (MTPC), launched MT Pharma America to develop and commercialize…

Kate Farms, a company that develops plant-based oral and tube feeding formulas, has launched its Core Essentials Peptide 1.5 nationwide to help those with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and others with impaired development get their full nutritional intake. Each Core Essentials Peptide 1.5 carton provides a 325 mL…

Flex Pharma is launching the Phase 2 COMMEND trial, which will investigate the effects of FLX-787 in patients with muscle cramps associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The preliminary results of the trial are expected to be released in mid-2018. The COMMEND trial (NCT03196375) will start with an assessment…

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics has signed an agreement with the University of California Irvine Medical Center (UCI) to start enrolling patients for an upcoming Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating whether NurOwn can improve functional impairment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. NurOwn is made of mesenchymal stem cells…

Healthcare providers may now begin researching the insurance benefits process for patients in advance of the upcoming availability of Radicava (edaravone), an approved treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to the therapy’s distributor in the U.S., Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)…

Cytokinetics recently announced the start of a Phase 2 clinical trial investigating a new therapy candidate (CK-2127107) for the potential treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The Phase 2 FORTITUDE-ALS (NCT03160898) study will soon be…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted fast track status to FLX-787, Flex Pharma‘s treatment for severe muscle cramps in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Flex designed FLX-787 to interfere with transient receptor potential ion channels that are believed to play a role in nervous system pain and inflammation.

Scientists have known for some time that abnormal DNA repetitions in the C9orf72 gene contribute to neuron death in ALS and frontotemporal dementia. Now they have learned how it happens: The anomalies leave DNA susceptible to damage, prompting a cell repair mechanism to become over-active. That hyperactivity cause neuron deaths.