This is a personal statement read by Jennifer Bernay on the 2021 virtual hill day held with the ALS Association Northern Ohio Chapter and members of congress representing the state of Ohio.
Following the lack of action by the FDA to expedite approval of AMX0035, an experimental treatment for ALS, The ALS Association today called on the agency to follow its own guidance and move with the urgency of its Canadian and European Union counterparts. Health Canada and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) are working with Amylyx, the company that makes AMX0035, to move the treatment toward approval.
The ALS Association endorses the strengthened Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act (ACT) for ALS Act (H.R.8662/ S. 4867) as an important step in bringing promising new treatments to people with ALS as quickly as possible. The bill accelerates the fight against ALS by authorizing $100 million for ALS research and creating the first federal entity explicitly charged with developing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.
The ALS Association strongly supports initiatives to enable people with ALS to access promising treatments as soon as possible, including prior to FDA approval. Our primary goal is to facilitate the development of effective treatments and help support delivery to everyone with ALS as soon as possible.
Cleveland Construction Attorney and Hahn Loeser Partner Andrew J. Natale was honored by The ALS Association at the annual Hero Awards Dinner held in Charlotte, NC on Wednesday, February 19. Andy was one of four recipients selected for the 2020 award.
An independent research organization reported that donations from the 2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge enabled The ALS Association to increase its annual funding for research around the world by 187 percent. During this time, ALS researchers made scientific advances, care for people living with ALS expanded and investment in disease research from the federal government grew.