Can We Talk?

  Can we talk?  Well, no, actually, we can’t talk… because I can’t really talk. Oh, I can make sounds, but those sounds seldom form themselves into recognizable words. Only my husband and son have the patience to try to understand me, and they’re pretty darn good at it!  My nurses try to guess, but . . .

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Five Questions with ALS Researcher Claudio Hetz

Claudio Hetz, a professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Chile, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $294,000 over a period of three years to study a potential new therapy aimed at rescuing motor neurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In ALS, some proteins do not fold into their required shape . . .

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Five Questions with ALS Researcher Christine Vande Velde

Christine Vande Velde, associate professor at the University of Montreal CHUM Research Center in Montreal, Quebec (Canada), was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $300,000 over a period of three years to study what goes wrong in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) caused by mutations in the superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) gene. In ALS patients with . . .

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Five Questions with ALS Researcher Asim Beg

Asim Beg, assistant professor at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $300,000 over a period of three years to study the role of a protein, EphA4, in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). High levels of EphA4 correlate with rapid disease progression in ALS patients. Beg and colleagues will work . . .

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Workshop Will Update ALS Clinical Trial Guidelines

Patients, their families and caregivers, researchers and clinicians are invited to gain insight into the testing process for experimental therapies to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) via a live webcast this month. The ALS Clinical Trials Guidelines 2016 Workshop, an international effort that seeks to renew and update the current ALS Clinical Trials Guidelines, will . . .

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Phase 1 Clinical Trial to Test BIIB067 in People with ALS Currently Recruiting Participants

Researchers are looking for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to participate in a phase 1 clinical trial, sponsored by Biogen and Ionis Pharmaceuticals, to test the experimental drug BIIB067 (Ionis-SOD1Rx). BIIB067 is an antisense oligonucleotide, composed of short segments of synthetic genetic material (nucleic acid) that bind to RNA. The drug is designed to . . .

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Phase 3 Trial for Experimental Drug Tirasemtiv Currently Recruiting Participants with ALS

Researchers are looking for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to participate in the phase 3 VITALITY-ALS clinical trial, sponsored by Cytokinetics, to test the experimental drug tirasemtiv. Tirasemtiv is a skeletal muscle activator that is designed to increase the sensitivity of muscle fibers to calcium, which should cause these fibers to contract even if . . .

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