Changing My Rollator From a Foe to a Friend

My ALS symptoms showed up in my feet and legs in 2010. Normally strong and coordinated from years of gymnastics and fitness classes, my lower limbs became weak and unreliable. That’s when my neurologist recommended I begin using a walker. To be precise, she meant I use a…

CNM-Au8, an investigational disease-modifying therapy for people with early amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), showed consistent clinical benefits in patients with both limb and bulbar onset disease, according to new analyses of RESCUE-ALS Phase 2 clinical trial data. In particular, the treatment significantly extended the time to disease progression —…

When Leah Stavenhagen was 27, she was living in Paris and traveling through Europe. But an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) diagnosis forced her to give up her job as a consultant with Ernst & Young and dashed her dreams of continuing to work abroad. At the time, she seemed…

Repeat injections of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into the spinal canal were safe and well tolerated in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and showed potential to significantly slow the rate of disease progression, a small Phase 2 clinical trial found. “Larger studies are warranted to confirm our observations…

About four years ago, I began to be overwhelmed with sadness about my husband’s continuing decline from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Todd and I have often said that if the disease progression would just stop, we could adjust. But managing ALS only becomes more stressful as time goes on,…

Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics‘ investigational cell-based therapy, NurOwn, might be able to slow disease progression and be of “meaningful” benefit to  people with less severe amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to new analyses of Phase 3 trial data. The company announced last year that its Phase 3 trial…

“I been one poor correspondent, and I been too, too hard to find But it doesn’t mean you ain’t been on my mind.” In retrospect, I fear that much of my life has resembled that stanza from the band America’s second Billboard No. 1…

A combined gene therapy that delivered two nerve growth factors — NRG1-I and NRG1-III — to muscle and nerve cells improved motor function and delayed disease onset in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a study demonstrated. However, the combo therapy did not show a synergistic effect,…

I spent most of my life following daily habits and routines that shaped my perspective about how life ought to be. When ALS appeared, it brought change and created imaginary roadblocks in my mind. I didn’t want things to change, to learn new habits, or to adapt to my…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared AB Science to resume patient enrollment in its confirmatory Phase 3 trial investigating masitinib as an add-on treatment in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). AB Science put a temporary hold on all its masitinib clinical trials due…