“Hope is the thing with feathers” –Emily Dickinson Recently, my wife and I went to see a stand-up comedian at our local indoor stadium. My fervent hope was that our evening together would be a unifying, restorative one. It was in that spirit that we performed all of the mental and…
IONIS-SOD1Rx (BIIB067), an investigational therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) developed by Biogen and Ionis Pharmaceuticals, was shown to prolong survival and reverse neuromuscular damage in mouse and rat models…
Swallowing. It’s such a simple thing to do! We’re born with the ability to swallow; it happens automatically, and the average person does it approximately 600 times a day. I mean, who actually thinks about swallowing? Well, I do, now that I’ve joined the nearly 80…
CannTrust is getting ready to launch a clinical trial to assess the effectiveness of its cannabidiol (CBD) oil capsules on slowing the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other motor neuron diseases (MNDs). This new study is the result of a collaboration between Canada-based CannTrust and…
Restoring or artificially raising levels of a protein found in the spinal cord, mitofusin 2, worked to prevent nerve degeneration, muscle atrophy, and paralysis in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, researchers report. As this protein is often depleted in ALS patients — and drops with aging —…
Treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with investigational compound ibudilast (MN-166) as an add-on to Rilutek (riluzole) improves patients’ functional activity, quality of life, and muscle strength, data from MediciNova’s Phase 2 trial show. MediciNova is now recruiting participants for a Phase 1/2 biomarker trial (…
A new Phase 3 trial evaluating levosimendan (also known as ODM-109), an oral treatment by Orion for breathing problems in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), has recruited its first patients, the Finnish pharmaceutical company announced. The trial, called REFALS (NCT03505021), aims to investigate the potential benefits of prolonged treatment with levosimendan…
Sporadic and familial forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are associated with two microRNA molecules that are downregulated — meaning these molecules, involved in the protein production of certain genes, cause less protein to be created —, researchers have discovered. And they found a possible way of “upregulating” these molecules, making…
Xeomin (incobotulinumtoxinA) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of chronic sialorrhea, or excessive drooling, a common condition in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. Merz Neurosciences, a division of Merz North America, recently announced that its supplemental biologics license application (sBLA) for Xeomin was…
For most of my adult life, keeping track of my health was easy peasy — at least, it was before I had ALS. I always followed the recommended guidelines for annual exams, participated in my employer’s work site wellness screens and made sure my immunizations were up…
