Incorporating upper motor neuron health in ALS drug discovery.

Incorporating upper motor neuron health in ALS drug discovery.
Drug Discov Today. 2018 Jan 10;:
Authors: Dervishi I, Ozdinler PH
Abstract
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a complex disease, affecting the motor neuron circuitry. After consecutive failures in clinical trials for the past 20 years, edaravone was recently approved as the second drug for ALS. This generated excitement in the field and revealed the need to improve preclinical assays for continued success. Here, we focus on the importance and relevance of upper motor neuron (UMN) pathology in ALS, and discuss how incorporation of UMN survival in preclinical assays will improve inclusion criteria for clinical trials and expedite the drug discovery effort in ALS and related motor neuron diseases.
PMID: 29331501 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Drug Discovery Today - January 10, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Dervishi I, Ozdinler PH Tags: Drug Discov Today Source Type: research