Drug Combination Slows Progression Of ALS And Could Mark ‘New Era’ In Treatment

|

September 2nd, 2020

Brain in motor neurone disease. FLAIR magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of an axial section through the brain of a 32-old patient with motor neurone disease, showing hyperintensity of the pyramidal tracts. Motor neurone disease (also Charcot disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), is a degenerative neurological disorder that involves the death of neurons (nerve cells).

Zephyr/Science Source

A combination of two experimental drugs appears to slow the decline of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an illness often known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

A six-month study of 137 patients with a fast-progressing form of the disease found that those who got daily doses of a two-drug combination called AMX0035 scored several points higher on a standard measure of function, a team reports in the Sept. 3 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

The difference was modest but meaningful to patients, said Dr. Sabrina Paganoni, the lead author and a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Top Stories