Research
Progress Now Fall 2016
In August, MDA awarded nearly $7 million in new research grants, supporting 25 new research projects around the world to accelerate treatments and cures. With 41 grants awarded earlier this year, MDA’s investment in new neuromuscular disease research projects totals more than $17 million for 2016.The new research projects underway are expected to build learnings and create positive outcomes that cross disease borders and impact the greater neuromuscular disease landscape.
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Trial Run: Is Participating in a Clinical Trial Right for Me?
Clinical trials are research studies conducted to determine whether a medical strategy, treatment or device is safe and effective for use in humans. They can test medical products including drugs and devices, help discover more information about a disease, or evaluate procedures or behavioral changes such as diet or exercise.
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Clinical Trials: Preparation Tips and Questions to Ask
• Why do I want to participate in the clinical trial?• What are my goals and expectations if I were to be selected? • How could this impact me if I do participate in the trial? How will this impact me if I do not participate?• Have I weighed the benefits versus the risks? About the trial:
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Types of Clinical Trials
When a new product or approach is being studied, it is not usually known whether it will be helpful, harmful or no different than available alternatives. Investigators try to determine the safety and efficacy of the intervention by measuring certain outcomes in the participants. Phase 0 — Also known as “exploratory studies,” these trials test a small dose of a new drug in a few people as researchers explore how the drug may work in humans and ensure that it is safe. Trial participants may or may not have the disease the drug has been developed to treat.
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Progress Now Summer 2016
Results from an MDA-supported multicenter phase 1b clinical trial have shown that treatment with pyrimethamine was safe and well-tolerated and associated with reduced levels of SOD1 protein in people with ALS caused by a mutation in the gene for SOD1.Pyrimethamine is a small molecule approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment in humans of the parasitic infections malaria and toxoplasmosis.
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Searching for Answers Across Diseases
The $11 million commitment, MDA’s largest such award in three years, underlines MDA’s dedication to investing in research across diseases with the expectation that increased understanding in one disease will inform progress and lead to research and medical breakthroughs in other disease spaces.
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Progress Now Spring 2016
Researchers are looking for people with ALS to participate in a phase 1 clinical trial, sponsored by Biogen and Ionis Pharmaceuticals, to test the experimental drug Ionis-SOD1Rx. Ionis-SOD1Rx is designed to block production of flawed SOD1 protein in people with ALS caused by defects in the SOD1 gene. It is administered by intrathecal injection, in which a small needle is inserted into a space in the lower back below the end of the spinal cord in a medical procedure commonly referred to as a “lumbar puncture.”
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Progress Now Winter 2016
At MDA, we take a big picture perspective across the full spectrum of neuromuscular diseases to uncover scientific and medical breakthroughs that accelerate treatments and cures. The power in our research approach is that we can often apply learnings from one disease to progress in others to bring urgently needed answers to our families. Take a look at what's happening in research and clinical trials for Winter 2016.
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Follow the Biomarkers
Imagine being in a strange city. You’re driving to the airport to catch a flight. Now suppose every street sign and traffic light you see is covered in paint. Which way do you turn? You look at your dashboard. All the indicators are covered in paint, too. Is the tank full or empty? Is the engine hot? Should you go faster? Slower? Or stop altogether?
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Progress Now Fall 2015
As part of an effort to refocus its research grants program, MDA began funding 36 new research and development grants, totaling nearly $10 million, on Aug. 1, 2015. The awards were made to researchers seeking to increase understanding of and find promising treatments and cures for muscular dystrophy, ALS and related neuromuscular diseases that limit strength and mobility.
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