A Blockbuster Approach to Funding ALS Research


Two seemingly disparate strands - a runaway blockbuster and a clinical trial of a promising new therapeutic approach to a fatal neuromuscular disease - are being woven together in a new initiative by the ALS Society of Canada.

The first strand is a short memoir called Tuesdays with Morrie, which catapulted a little-known disease into the forefront of world attention in 1997; the success of the book has kept it there ever since. More than 11 million copies of Tuesdays with Morrie have been sold worldwide, and it spent more than four years on The New York Times best seller list. The story was adapted as a television movie in 1999 and as a play that was performed in New York City in 2002.

Most people know the story: sports columnist Mitch Albom reconnects with his former college professor, Morrie Schwartz, who is in the final stages of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Albom spends 14 Tuesday afternoons with his mentor, learning anew about life, laughter and love. But the clock is ticking. Albom knows that the final lesson will be about death: ALS is an unforgiving disease and there are no survivors.

Across the ocean, another strand. In 2008, a small Italian study of 44 people published the results of a 15-month trial: daily doses of the drug lithium, used to treat bipolar disorder, taken together with riluzole, significantly slowed the progression of ALS. By year's end, the ALS Society of Canada proudly announced the launch of the first Canadian national clinical trial. The objective of the trial is to confirm the effectiveness of lithium in slowing the progression of ALS in patients in the early stages of the disease.

"Since there is no cure for ALS yet, research into treatments gives hope to ALS patients and their families," explains David Cameron, president and CEO of ALS Canada.


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