Doctors at UCSF have discovered how a new drug could help stop Lou Gehrig's disease in its tracks.
Named the baseball player diagnosed with it, ALS affects the central nervous system, causing a loss in muscle control.
"(And) over two to five years patients die from inability to breathe, really," said Dr. Michael McGrath, Emeritus Professor of Medicine at UCSF. "So, right now there are about 25,000 or 30,000 ALS patents in the United States, and there really is not an effective therapy."
McGrath is hopeful about the results of a new study involving a drug that helped reduce inflammation.
Researchers found that among patients aged 40 to 65, ALS progression effectively stopped over the six month trial period.
Right now, the drug is certainly not approved yet," McGrath told KCBS Radio's "As Prescribed" on Thursday. "We're working with the FDA. But it has two benefits that we can see. One is it seemingly stops or slows diseases development or progression, and second is it really enhances the ability to breathe. Both of those things could translate into increasing survival."
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