Enrollment in Diaphragm Pacing Systems for People with ALS Halted

In September, the Data Safety and Monitoring Board (DSMB), constituted to oversee the Diaphragm Pacing System in Participants with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (DPS in ALS) study, being conducted in the United States, issued a recommendation that new enrollment be halted. At the same time, the DSMB recommended that patients already randomized to the diaphragm pacing . . .

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Major League Baseball Joins MDA and Fourteen Other ALS Organizations to Launch ALS Ice Bucket Challenge 2015

CHICAGO, July 31, 2015 —The 2015 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge will officially get underway today at Fenway Park in Boston, when Major League Baseball and the Boston Red Sox honor Ice Bucket co-founders Pat Quinn and Pete Frates, the ALS community and Lou Gehrig’s legacy by taking the challenge. MLB is donating $100,000 to further . . .

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ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Returning This August

Statement from MDA President and CEO Steven M. Derks: “MDA takes a big-picture perspective to fight ALS — investing in research to find breakthroughs that will lead to treatments and cures, caring for people from day one at our specialized clinics, and helping ALS families in hometowns across America live longer, stronger lives. MDA is . . .

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FDA Approves Investigational New Drug Application for ALS Cellular Therapy

Press Release:  Novel Cellular Therapeutic Approach for ALS Gets FDA Clearance for First-In-Human Trials Statement from MDA Scientific Program Officer Amanda Haidet-Phillips, Ph.D.: “This is a promising development in the quest for treatments and cures for ALS. Approval of the Investigational New Drug Application (IND) by the FDA clears the way for a clinical trial of . . .

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The Ice Has Thawed: What’s Next in the Fight to End ALS?

By Amanda M. Haidet-Phillips, Ph.D., MDA’s ALS Scientific Program Officer Throughout 2014, everyone from celebrities to school children to MDA’s own CEO could be seen dumping ice water over their heads to raise awareness and dollars to fight ALS. It was a phenomenon that shined an urgently-needed spotlight on a disease that steals everyday freedoms . . .

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Dear ALS Community

Dear ALS Community, We are excited and enthusiastic about the new approaches and new drugs that are being tested for people with ALS and remain very hopeful that one or more of these will become a therapy with substantial impact on slowing down or perhaps even stopping ALS. We remain grateful to the brave volunteers . . .

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