The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to Clinigen’s aldesleukin for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Aldesleukin is a lab-made version of the interleukin 2 (IL-2), an immune signalling molecule known to play a key role in the maintenance of a…

Clusterin, a protein that plays a key role in motor neuron health, and ficolin-3, a protein essential for the activation of immune responses, may be promising biomarkers of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to a recent study. The study, “Levels of clusterin, CD5L, ficolin-3,…

Long delays between symptom onset and diagnosis are common with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and need not be if general practitioners (GPs) were more aware of the disease and its likely “red flags,” a study suggests. Its researchers highlighted specific “flags,” like difficulties with speech or swallowing or muscle…

QurAlis Corporation has licensed preclinical small molecule compounds — designed to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — from Eli Lilly and Company, furthering QurAlis’s specialization in ALS treatment development. The investigational molecules are aimed at specifically counteracting a pathological symptom of ALS called excitotoxicity, a process…

For Pat Quinn, co-founder of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, everyday communication has become more challenging as his amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) disease has progressed. But eye-tracking technology has helped him, in a sense, retain his “voice.” In fact, Quinn recounts a time when inadvertently letting his…

Barriers need to be overcome in order to facilitate community engagement programs for people with motor neurone disease (MND), a group of diseases that includes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a new study shows. The study, “Supporting access to activities to enhance well‐being and reduce social…

Patient dosing has finished in the pivotal Phase 3 trial assessing the safety and efficacy of repeat administrations of NurOwn, a cell-based therapy for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics, the therapy’s developer, announced. The Phase 3 trial (NCT03280056), which enrolled…

Weight loss at the time of diagnosis appears common among people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), regardless of whether they have dysphagia or other bulbar-onset symptoms, a study looking at more than 2,400 patients found. A severe degree of weight loss is associated with a higher risk of death, its…

Scientists have identified molecules that enable them to study and manipulate a specific type of cell present in the central nervous system, called glial cells, at the junctions where nerve cells communicate with muscles. Understanding how these cells operate at such sites, called neuromuscular junctions or synapses, has…

Protocatechuic acid, a metabolite of one of the main substances that give blackberries and black rice their distinctive dark color, can extend the lifespan and reduce the progression and severity of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in a mouse model of the disease, a study found. The study, “…