According to a story from PR Newswire, the biopharmaceutical company Clene Nanomedicine, Inc., has issued an announcement in regards to its Australian subsidiary. This subsidiary has been awarded a grant to the tune of $1.37 million AUD from the FightMND foundation in that country. The cash will go towards the operation of a clinical trial that will test CNM-Au8, an investigational treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
About Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rare, degenerative disease that causes the death of nerve cells associated with the voluntary muscles. Little is known about the origins of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, with no definitive cause in about 95 percent of cases. The remaining five percent appear to inherit the disease from their parents. Symptoms initially include loss of coordination, muscle weakness and atrophy, muscle stiffness and cramping, and trouble speaking, breathing, or swallowing. These symptoms worsen steadily over time; most patients die because of respiratory complications. Treatment is mostly symptomatic and the medication riluzole can prolong life. Life expectancy after diagnosis ranges from two to four years, but some patients can survive for substantially longer. To learn more about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, click here.
The clinical trial in question will be conducted at two different sites in Australia. These sites are the Sydney Brain Mind Centre and the Westmead Hospital MND Clinic.
New Treatments Needed
The results of this clinical trial, which is being called RESCUE-ALS, will be important for this rare disease community. Current treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis such as riluzole have severe limitations because their clinical benefit is relatively small (delaying disease progression by only a few months at best) and they are not effective for all patients. It is clear that there is a dire need for more effective therapies.
About CNM-Au8
CNM-Au8 offers a completely unique therapeutic approach. The drug is comprised of nanocrystalline gold in an aqueous, concentrated suspension. The properties of this structure allow it to facilitate various neurological functions, and preclinical investigations have suggested that CNM-Au8 can promote important neuronal repair, such as the restoration of the myelin sheath and protection of the nervous system.
