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…

Skyhawk Therapeutics and Celgene have agreed to collaborate for five years to discover, develop, and commercialize innovative small molecule treatment options for neurological diseases with high unmet medical needs, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Huntington’s disease. Several genetic disorders are caused by “exon skipping,” which means…

Rare gene mutations in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) will be increasingly identified with large-scale, international studies, findings from Project MinE suggest. The study, “Project MinE: study design and pilot analyses of a large-scale whole-genome sequencing study in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,” was published in the European…

NurOwn, an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) treatment candidate, will not be made available under the new Right to Try Act at this time due to a lack of funding alternatives for patients, BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics announced in a press release. The company said it reached this decision after carefully evaluating the Right to…

ProMIS Neurosciences announced that it is moving toward selecting antibodies — from the many identified in earlier work — that specifically target the toxic proteins that accumulate in the brains of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer’s patients, and that may work as therapies. Specifically for ALS, the identified antibodies target TDP43…