Jamie Barrand | Oct 27, 2015

Proposals being sought for clinical trials to develop ALS treatments

ALS ACT, The ALS Association, ALS Finding a Cure and the Translational Research Advancing Therapy ALS (TREAT ALS) Northeast ALS Consortium (NEALS) clinical trials network said Friday they are calling for phase II clinical trial applications for innovative, high-potential treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects neurons (nerve cells) in the brain and the spinal cord. There is no cure and there are no life-prolonging treatments; patients often experience paralysis and die within two to five years of diagnosis.

Presently, there is one FDA-approved treatment for ALS, Riluzole (Rilutek), on the market.    

Proposals for the trial applications are being sought from academic-industry partnerships, pharmaceutical, biotherapeutic and biotechnology companies, academic members of the NEALS Consortium and ALS scientists.

Up to $1.5 million in funding is available.

"The goal of this request for proposals (RFP) is to expedite the process of bringing new treatments forward for testing in people with ALS and to measure if that therapeutic agent is reaching its target," the associations said.

For more information, visit www.alsa.org.

ALS affects one in approximately 30,000 people in the U.S, with 5,000 new diagnoses each year.

ALS was first detected in 1869 by French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, but it wasn’t until 1939 that Lou Gehrig brought national and international attention to the disease. ALS ended the career of one of the famed baseball player, and the disease is still most closely associated with his name. 

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