“In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” Last week, my pastor humorously suggested I should challenge folks to put forth songs or lyrics they believed I wouldn’t be able to kick-start a column with. He further suggested the above mentioned track by Iron Butterfly would be such a stumper. I respectfully submit that he…

A Phase 2 trial of ZZ Biotech’s investigational therapy 3K3A-APC in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has started dosing patients at its single site in Australia, the company announced in a press release. The open-label trial (NCT05039268), underway at the Macquarie University in Sydney, aims to evaluate…

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…

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,…

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…

The loss of chemical modifications in the regulatory sequence of the TARDBP gene, called DNA methylation, seems to contribute to increased levels and clumping of the TDP-43 protein in the motor cortex of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a study found. As methylation in this gene — which…