MDA RESEARCHERS BEGIN TRIALS OF TWO NEW ALS DRUGS

TUCSON, Ariz., Nov. 16, 2001 — Two groups of scientists funded by the Muscular Dystrophy Association will be recruiting participants for trials of two new potential drug treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — one involving a drug commonly used in breast cancer treatment and the other a drug used in arthritis.

The first ALS trial of tamoxifen (Nolvadex), a breast cancer drug, is under way at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The trial is still recruiting and will involve 80 people with ALS.

Benjamin Brooks, director of the MDA/ALS Clinical Research Center at the university, found positive results when tamoxifen was given to mice with an ALS-like disease. It delayed symptoms in both male and female mice by eight days and prolonged their survival by two weeks.

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, kills muscle-controlling nerve cells (motor neurons) in the spinal cord and brain, eventually leading to paralysis and respiratory failure. The cause of the disease remains unknown in most cases, and it usually proves fatal in three to five years after diagnosis.

Brooks announced his findings Monday during a press conference at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego. At the same press conference, Jeffrey Rothstein announced that he and Daniel Drachman, co-directors of the MDA/ALS Center at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, will begin a trial of Celebrex, a drug used in treating arthritis, in some 350 people with ALS.

In a trial in ALS mice, Drachman and Rothstein found that Celebrex (celecoxib) delayed disease onset by 54 days and prolonged survival by four weeks — a better result than that achieved with riluzole (Rilutek), the only drug currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of ALS.

Riluzole prolongs survival in ALS mice by two weeks, and extends life by a few months in people with ALS.

The Celebrex trial will be open for enrollment in December, and will take place at 21 centers across the country.

For more information on either trial, go to www.mda.org/research/ctrials.aspx.

ALS usually strikes during adulthood, and currently affects about 30,000 people in the United States. MDA is the nation’s leading voluntary health organization addressing ALS.

MDA is working to defeat more than 40 neuromuscular diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services, and far-reaching professional and public health education.

For more information about MDA’s ALS program, call (800) 572-1717 or go to www.als-mda.org on the Internet.