Snag: If One Medicine Treats Two Diseases

A drug utilized to treat multiple sclerosis has also been revealed to slow the progression of Lou Gehrig’s disorder in mice, nonprofit biotechnology firm intentions to declare Tuesday. Now, scientists face a snag.

Amy Dockser Marcus in Lunch Break reviews the growing pattern of studying actual drugs to use in other health problems and why it’s a challenge to get individuals into clinical trials for medicines already in the marketplace.

Many affected individuals with Lou Gehrig’s disease, a critical disorder formally often known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, will probably want to try the drug upon their own. However, there is no evidence whether it is safe or effective to individuals in the disease.

But scientists wish patients to actually participate in a clinical trial, one which particularly examines precisely how the drug, Gilenya, works in individuals with ALS. They can hope to launch that trial later this season.

“We have to be sure we are not doing any harm. We wish to conduct the trials properly and without hesitation,” said Steven Perrin, director and chief executive officer of the ALS Therapy Development Institute, a Cambridge, Mass.-based group that may be releasing concisely findings on Gilenya. With regard to developing therapy for these diseases, ‘for ALS patients, recently is not fast enough,’ says Steven Perrin, director and chief executive officer of the ALS Therapy Development Institute.