Experimental drug for ALS, dreamed up in a dorm room, offers patients glimmer of hope
An experimental drug for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, slowed the neurological decline of volunteers in a closely watched clinical trial, according to researchers, offering a glimmer of hope for a patient population that desperately needs new treatment options.
Patients who took the medication — initially dreamed up over beers and obsessive internet searching in a Brown University dormitory — retained a higher level of certain motor functions than those given a placebo, according to the researchers’ study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The company developing the drug, Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech Amylyx, released outlines of the data in December, but the new paper details how effective the treatment was in slowing progression of the disease.
