The U.S. Food and Drug Administration awarded $3.7 million to three ALS research projects as part of the implementation of the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Act (ACT for ALS).
Biogen Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration extended the review period of the promising gene therapy treatment Tofersen to consider additional data. The initial review period, which was announced in July 2022, was scheduled to conclude in January 2023. The review will now be extended to April 25, 2023.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS) is undertaking a study into accelerating the development of treatments and improving quality of life for people with ALS. This is a huge win for the community. The ALS Association led an effort to get Congress to direct NAS to undertake a study on ALS and also fought for $1 million to fund the study.
The ALS Association, the country’s largest nonprofit committed to making ALS livable and finding a cure, today celebrated the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of AMX0035, a new treatment for people living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal neurodegenerative disease. The Association invested $2.2 million of funds raised through the 2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge into the development and trial of AMX0035, and led the years-long advocacy campaign that pushed the FDA to approve the treatment prior to completion of an ongoing phase 3 trial.
We strongly disagree with ICER’s final report on new ALS drugs, which may result in people living with ALS being unable to access life-extending treatments. ICER’s flawed conclusions were based on their discriminatory methodology, as the National Council on Disability has documented.
An FDA advisory committee voted overwhelmingly (7-2) to support approval of AMX0035 for the treatment of ALS. A phase 3 clinical trial will continue to test the effectiveness of AMX0035.
“We are grateful to Cytokinetics for their partnership and transparency, enabling the global research community to leverage these data in their ongoing analyses and research activities,” said Neil Thakur, Ph.D., Chief Mission Officer at The ALS Association.
When the FDA recently accepted Biogen’s new drug application for tofersen, it signaled hope for thousands of people with SOD1 mutations that cause ALS. The FDA has granted priority review to this new drug application and is expected to decide on whether or not to approve tofersen by January 25, 2023.
The researchers focus on an earlier phase of ALS development, which is commonly understood to be a “silent” phase – before symptoms of the disease begin to manifest. Those minor motor impairments in the earlier phase are currently insufficient for a confirmed diagnosis.
The ALS Association filed formal objections with the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, commonly known as ICER, over their flawed draft report on the cost-effectiveness of AMX0035 and oral edaravone.
People with ALS, caregivers and people at risk of an ALS diagnosis have the opportunity to help the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) review applications for funding to support research into expanded access.
The Food and Drug Administration has extended the timeline of its review of AMX0035 citing additional data further showing that it is effective at reducing harms associated with the disease.
Follow-up analyses from the Phase 3 Valor study and the open-label extension study of tofersen, an investigational antisense drug, showed that the drug was effective in slowing down progression of ALS in people with SOD1 mutations.
New long-term analysis published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry showed AMX0035 was effective at reducing a variety of harms associated with ALS during the previously published Phase 2 Centaur trial.
The ALS Association, in collaboration with ALS Finding a Cure, recently awarded $400,000 to support research into the role SARM1 gene mutations play in the development and progression of ALS, with the ultimate goal of using an improved understanding of SARM1 to develop new treatments.