Combination drug selection trial in ALS

03 December 2007

Combining drugs that affect different aspects of neurodegeneration may be necessary to have a meaningful affect on treating ALS/MND. In addition, novel trial designs are needed to efficiently screen the growing number of potential neuroprotective agents.

At the 18th International Symposium on ALS/MND American researcher Dr Paul Gordon presented the results from the first ever combination drug selection trial.

The aim of the trial was to compare two drug combinations and at the same time to use a more efficient trial design. Instead of one group of patients being given a placebo they were given one of the alternative drug combinations. Data from a historical control group was used as a comparison for the analysis.

Participants received either minocycline/creatine or celecoxib/creatine and were evaluated monthly for six months. All of them were already taking riluzole. The primary objective was treatment selection based on which drug combination appeared to best slow deterioration.

The design of this trial allowed researchers to quickly determine which one of the two combinations proved more promising. Six months into the trial researchers were able to select the better drug combination – celecoxib/creatine - for further study.

Following Dr Gordon on to the platform was Dr Abitol of the French biotechnology company Trophos. Building of the data presented at last year’s meeting, he showed the results of the preliminary safety studies of their drug TROPHOS in 18 people with MND and the same number of unaffected people.

It is exciting to see these two new and different approaches emerging from this year’s meeting. We hope that these preliminary results fulfil their promise in the future.

Mel Barry Communications Manager
01604 611887/07918 652201
mel.barry@mndassociation.org

The 18th International Symposium on ALS/MND is taking place in Toronto, Canada, between Saturday 1 and Monday 3 December. The event is organised by the UK-based Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association and hosted this year by the ALS Society of Canada.