UAMS Dedicates ALS Research Center to Thomas May
By Arkansas Business Staff
11/14/2008 5:44:12 PM



The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences this week dedicated the J. Thomas May Center for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research, named for a Pine Bluff banker diagnosed with the disease.

The center has a focus on translational medicine, seeking to move new treatments quickly from the laboratory to the clinic. It includes three laboratories, scientists and staff devoted to ALS research.

The center is supported by more than $1 million in gifts to UAMS from friends and colleagues of May, who is chairman and CEO of Simmons First National Corp. in Pine Bluff and Simmons First National Bank.

"Translational research is the heart and soul of this center as we seek new drug therapies for ALS," John P. Crow, director of the center and a professor of pharmacology and toxicology in the UAMS College of Medicine, said in a news release. "We are energized by the love and support shown Mr. May by his friends in supporting this center. Their gifts directly support active research, allowing us to do work that could not be done through traditional funding mechanisms."

ALS or "Lou Gehrig's Disease" is a neurodegeneration disease that typically strikes otherwise healthy people and robs them of all voluntary muscle function, Crow said. Once symptoms begin, it usually progresses rapidly and has no effective treatment, he said.



Currently, UAMS researchers are testing combinations of agents to find an effective drug "cocktail." Crow said they are looking at drugs that are already approved by the Food and Drug Administration, combined with substances derived from dietary supplements - so-called "nutraceuticals."

"We are systematically seeking out combinations that have additive effects by testing agents individually and then combining those that have small effects in the hope of getting additive or synergistic effects," Crow said. "Both basic scientists and neurologists in the ALS field agree that this approach has the greatest potential for finding a treatment in the short-term - until the 'magic bullet' can be found to treat ALS."

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