A new Japanese joint venture company called MAGiQ Therapeutics — the result of a collaboration between Q Therapeutics and Reprocell — aims to develop cell and gene therapies for demyelinating and degenerative diseases of the central nervous system. Among the first diseases its efforts will target is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a…

Anxiety and depression were found to be associated with caregiver burden in people caring for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients, according to a study. Researchers found that anxiety was mainly observed in those with a low caregiver burden, and depression was seen more widely in those with a high…

A diet that includes foods rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids like alpha-linolenic acid — an essential plant-derived fatty acid found in flaxseed, canola, and other oils — is linked to a lower risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), researchers report. But their work also found that diets rich in arachidonic…

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) issued a negative opinion on the conditional marketing authorization of masitinib for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the therapy’s maker, AB Science, recently announced in a press release. Masitinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) being developed by AB Science to treat symptoms of…

H.P. Acthar Gel, an experimental injectable therapy, may help delay progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a new analysis reveals. The data is scheduled to be presented at the 70th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in Los Angeles, April 21–27, in a presentation titled, “Post…

New antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) molecular therapies targeting the most common gene mutation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia reduced brain disease hallmarks in a mouse study, researchers found. The study, “Stereopure Antisense Oligonucleotides Preferentially Knockdown G4C2 Repeat-Containing C9ORF72 Transcripts: A Potential Therapeutic Approach for the Treatment…

Researchers suggest that patients in the early stage of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) may benefit from a personalized program of home-based exercises without a physical therapist’s supervision. The small Japanese study, “Effectiveness of home-based exercises without supervision by physical therapists for patients with early-stage amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A…

Health Canada accepted Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma’s new drug submission (NDS) for edaravone as an intravenous treatment option for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Edaravone is currently approved as a treatment for ALS in Japan, South Korea, and the United States (where it is marketed by Mitsubishi Tanabe as Radicava).

Rilutek (riluzole) extends survival of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who are at  advanced stages of the disease, rather than preventing disease progression is early stages. Those findings were reported by a team led by King’s College London researchers and published in The Lancet Neurology. The…

AveXis, which is running clinical trials of a promising gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) — and developing a potentially similar therapy for a genetic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — announced plans to be acquired by Novartis for $8.7 billion in cash. AVXS-101 is the…