In addition to its clinical mission, the ALS Center has an important research and education mission.
Basic, translational, clinical, and epidemiological research projects are being undertaken by a collaborative team of investigators. Every day clinicians, scientists, students, and patients are working to unravel the complexities of ALS and discover and test new therapies to treat it. This interdisciplinary and comprehensive approach is necessary to tackle challenging neurodegenerative diseases like ALS.
Clinical trials
Although there is no cure available for ALS, there are FDA-approved medications available to delay progression of the disease (edaravone, riluzole Relyviro, toferson) and to manage complications of the disorder (dextrometorphan-quinidine).
The gold standard of care for ALS patients is management at multidisciplinary ALS clinics, which can also offer access to clinical trials, such as our L-serine treatment trial at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. We are a research site of the Healey ALS Platform Trial.
We have many active trials that are enrolling patients across our system. A clinical trial/study is research in which people can participate and is one of the final steps in the process to look for better ways to prevent, diagnose, or treat your condition. The purpose of a clinical trial/study is to research the effectiveness of a treatment, medication, experimental drug, or device. Many of the "standard treatments" that patients receive today were developed based on the results of previous clinical trials.
View the list of neurology and neuromuscular clinical trials with which this program is currently involved. Consider joining a trial today. You could help change the future of medicine.