Endpoints

Nobody knows ALS better than people living with the disease. Therefore, it’s crucial for scientists to utilize the perspectives of people with lived experience in their research. Earlier this year, ALS TDI joined with  Her ALS Story —a group of women diagnosed with ALS before the age of 35—to put on a series of Town Hall webinars that highlighted the importance of this conne...

Brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs, aim to enable people to control various adaptive devices directly with their thoughts. There are many BCI devices currently in various stages of development, with the potential to help people with ALS and similar conditions across many different activities of daily life. One particular area in which BCI devices may be able to support people with advanced ALS sym...

Today on  Endpoints,  Dr. Danielle Boyce joins us to explore how data science is transforming our understanding of ALS and why the ALS Research Collaborative (ARC) Study presents an exciting opportunity for research. As ALS TDI’s  Principal Investigator for Real-World Evidence , Dr. Boyce brings extensive expertise in analyzing big data to uncover key insights about ALS. Her w...

25 years ago, Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan began filming a documentary about a new, one-year-old organization and the family that founded it. That organization was called the ALS Therapy Development Foundation, and its mission was to find treatments for ALS. It was started by Jamie Heywood, whose brother Stephen had been diagnosed with the disease at the age of 29.  The film they made,&nbs...

In February 2024, ALS TDI launched the ALS Trial Navigator, a set of online tools designed to help people with ALS find clinical trials. Users can fill out a questionnaire to be matched with trials that meet their criteria, search a global database of studies, and even find sites close to them on an interactive map. Dr. Nadia Sethi, an ALS advocate who became a clinical trial expert after her husb...

Chris Ritter, the co-owner of Oakland United Beerworks, never thought he’d make a profession out of brewing. He had always loved beer but was a lawyer by training. Brewing was his son Andrew’s great passion. From a young age, Andrew always knew he wanted to make beer. After college, he got into the industry and eventually became the lead brewer of his own brewery. Everything changed for the Ritter...

We need more – likely many more – effective treatments to end ALS. Progress in ALS research has been too slow for too long but, in 2024, we’re witnessing significant advances and a new pace of progress. The past few years have see more treatments for ALS in clinical trials than ever before. Still, most drugs that reach trial fail, in any disease. However, the more experimental treatments that make...

In 1999, Stephen Heywood, who was 29 years old at the time, was diagnosed with ALS. His family was devastated when they learned that there were no treatments that could slow or stop his disease. His brother Jamie decided that he had to do something about it, founding the organization that would eventually become ALS TDI – the world’s first nonprofit biotech – in the basement of his parents’ Newton...

Kids Quest to Cure ALS is an organization for kids, by kids. Their mission is to get young people involved in the fight against ALS. The group was founded by kids in the US and Canada – all of whom have been affected by a loved one’s ALS diagnosis. They are encouraging people under the age of 18 across both countries to band together to help raise funds for ALS research and bring awareness to the...

One of the most common misconceptions about ALS is that it only affects older white men. In reality, the disease can affect anyone of any age – and of any ethnicity. Many Shades of ALS, a team within the I AM ALS organization, is working hard to dispel some of these misconceptions. Their mission is to bring attention to people of color living with ALS and the unique challenges they often face – as...

When dealing with a disease like ALS, it can be hard to know where to turn for reliable information and advice. While your doctor and care team might be able to provide some answers to your questions, there are many topics that they might not be equipped to handle. There are many resources available on the internet, but it can be hard to know if you’ve found a reputable source. Roon is an app that...

Welcome to the latest episode of Endpoints Shorts, presented by the ALS Therapy Development Institute. In these bite-size podcasts, we’ll be tackling important scientific concepts for people interested in ALS research, current clinical trials, and news from around the ALS space ­– all in 15 minutes or less. Our guide throughout this series will be Dr. Nadia Sethi, ALS TDI’s Director of Community O...

Andrea Lytle Peet’s passion for running started simply enough. At age 30, she had just moved to Washington, D.C. to be with her husband, David. Stuck in their house during the snowy D.C. winter, she started walking on a treadmill in their basement to keep active. Soon, she had signed up for a local 5k. Then she stepped up to a 10 miler. Then came marathons and triathlons. Within three years, she h...

Finding more accurate ways to measure ALS progression is one of the most important challenges facing scientists today. More sensitive, objective ways of measuring how the disease is affecting people could help make clinical trials faster and more efficient. Achieving this is one of the primary goals of the ALS Research Collaborative (ARC) – a program at ALS TDI that seeks to learn more about ALS b...

ALS TDI’s  ALS Research Collaborative  (ARC) is a global initiative that partners with people with ALS to gather data about the disease to help us better understand the underlying biology of ALS and accelerate the discovery of treatments. Recently, ALS TDI announced a partnership with Unite Genomics, a healthcare data analytics company, that will allow us to integrate a new data source into the pr...

Welcome to the latest episode of Endpoints Shorts, presented by the ALS Therapy Development Institute. I’m Jonathan Gang. In these bite-size podcasts, we’ll be tackling important scientific concepts for people interested in ALS research, current clinical trials, and news from around the ALS space ­– all in 15 minutes or less. Our guide throughout this series will be Dr. Nadia Sethi, ALS TDI’s Dire...

Welcome to the latest episode of Endpoints Shorts, presented by the ALS Therapy Development Institute. In these bite-size podcasts, we’ll be tackling important scientific concepts for people interested in ALS research, current clinical trials, and news from around the ALS space ­– all in 15 minutes or less. Our guide throughout this series will be Dr. Nadia Sethi, ALS TDI’s Director of Community O...

Welcome to the latest episode of Endpoints Shorts, presented by the ALS Therapy Development Institute. In these bite-size podcasts, we’ll be tackling important scientific concepts for people interested in ALS research, current clinical trials, and news from around the ALS space – all in 15 minutes or less. Our guide throughout this series will be Dr. Nadia Sethi, ALS TDI’s Director of Community Ou...

In March 2023, ALS TDI announced the launch of the ALS Research Collaborative (ARC). ARC’s goal is to learn more about the underlying biology of ALS to help accelerate treatments. The study is powered by the participation of people with ALS, who generously share data about their disease, their genetics, and their progression. This data then informs ALS TDI’s research to find treatments for ALS. It...

Note: Since this recording, David Lloyd passed away in July of 2023. His legacy lives on through Racing for ALS, and in the more than $1 million he helped to raise to support ALS Research. Scott and David Lloyd first joined us on Endpoints in 2020. The two brothers shared their story about how David’s ALS diagnosis inspired them to pursue a lifelong dream – racing high-performance cars. This passi...

Welcome to the latest episode of Endpoints Shorts, presented by the ALS Therapy Development Institute. In these bite-size podcasts, we’ll be tackling important scientific concepts for people interested in ALS research, current clinical trials, and news from around the ALS space ­– all in 15 minutes or less. Our guide throughout this series will be Dr. Nadia Sethi, ALS TDI’s Director of Community O...

For more than 20 years, riders have been coming to the Tri-State Trek for an unforgettable weekend of riding bikes, seeing friends, and supporting ALS Research. The Trek is ALS TDI’s signature fundraiser, and it has raised more than $10 million dollars to support our research to end ALS. It has also become something of a family affair, with riders who have been showing up for years, or even decade...

When we talk about ALS, we often make a distinction between types of the disease: 90% of cases appear to be sporadic – meaning there is no family history of the disease. The opposite is true of the other 10% – known as familial ALS or genetic ALS. In these cases, the disease can sometimes be traced back in a family for generations.  Behind this phenomenon are a number of inherited mutations in gen...

Welcome to the latest episode of Endpoints Shorts, presented by the ALS Therapy Development Institute. In these bite-size podcasts, we’ll be tackling important scientific concepts for people interested in ALS research, current clinical trials, and news from around the ALS space ­– all in 15 minutes or less. Our guide throughout this series will be Dr. Nadia Sethi, ALS TDI’s Director of Community O...

Please note that the study described in the podcast episode, the COURAGE-ALS Phase 3 Study for reldesemtiv, was terminated on March 31st, 2023 for futility ­– meaning that an unblinded analysis was conducted on data by an independent committee while the trial was still ongoing, and it was determined that there was no evidence of an effect. Welcome to the latest episode of Endpoints Shorts, present...