Candidate drug for ALS treatment: Effect of delaying progression for 7 months confirmed!
-Keio University to conduct final clinical trial in 2024-
Report from Nihon Keizai Shimbun article
Keio University:
The research team found out about ALS in a study using iPS cells.
“Clinical trial results of administering therapeutic drug candidates to patients” were summarized.
It has been confirmed that it is effective in delaying the progression of the disease by about 7 months.
The final-stage clinical trial will begin in 2024. Furthermore, it will be put into practical use as a therapeutic drug.
Investigating and verifying the effect of ropinirole:
Using “iPS cells from all patients who participated in the clinical trial”, “effects of ropinirole by cell experiments” were investigated.
Patients who showed a high effect in this experiment “tend to have a high effect in the actual clinical trial,” he said.
Using iPS cells, the effect of ropinirole can be predicted in advance.
The plan is to apply for approval as an ALS treatment drug.
Professor Okano said, “I want to plan a clinical trial with a high degree of certainty and settle it in one trial.”
Source: “Summary of Measures against Intractable Diseases” (Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare) Updated October 16, 2019
Number of ALS patients in Japan:
ALS is a motor neuropathy, a progressive intractable disease that weakens muscles, and the number of patients in Japan is about 10,000.
A few years after the onset of symptoms, the patient either needs to be put on a respirator or dies.
Slowing the progression of the disease has become important for maintaining quality of life.
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUC31C4D0R30C23A5000000/
Chem-Station: iPS drug discovery brings light to ALS treatment
Effects of oral 16mg ropinirole:
16 mg of ropinirole hydrochloride is administered to an ALS patient.
During the one-year trial period, it was found that “the progression of ALS may be delayed by 27.9 weeks (7 months)”.
https://www.chem-station.com/blog/2021/06/ropinirole.html