American football star Dwight Clark was known for having the safest hands on the San Francisco 49ers. In September 2015, doctors diagnosed him with ALS after he struggled to open a sugar packet. Less than three years later, he died.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a devastating disease that destroys nerve cells controlling movement and breathing. It is always fatal. Only two drugs exist, and they fail most patients. There is no cure.
All about ALS
That’s why CIRM chose ALS to be the subject of its latest Facebook Live Ask the Expert event (click here for the event’s Facebook Live page). People battling this deadly condition need new approaches. And CIRM is funding two clinical trials that hope to do just that.
This Ask the Expert event will feature Clive Svendsen, PhD, Director of Cedars-Sinai’s Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, and Robert Baloh, MD, PhD, Director of Neuromuscular Medicine at Cedars-Sinai. They’ll be joined by Ralph Kern, MD, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Medical Officer at BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics. The panel will be completed by CIRM Senior Science Officer Lila Collins.
The four will discuss the clinical trials that CIRM is funding with Cedars-Sinai and BrainStorm and look at other promising research underway.
“Ask the Experts About ALS and Stem Cells is an opportunity for everyone in the ALS community to hear about the very latest in stem cell research targeting this devastating disease,” Svendsen said. “There has recently been some progress in the search for new treatments, which has energized all of us looking for effective therapies—and one day, a cure.”
Because Facebook Live is interactive, people can post comments and ask questions of the experts.
Ask an expert
Dr. Baloh says we are at a crucial moment in the search for new ALS treatments.
“Many researchers believe stem cells and gene therapies show great promise, and more trials must test that potential.”
Our Facebook Live event, “Ask the Experts About ALS and Stem Cells,” takes place tomorrow, Tuesday, July 31, from noon to 1 p.m. PST. Join us on Facebook at this link: https://bit.ly/2uYQ8wM
Please like our Facebook page to get notifications when we go live.
We welcome your questions. You can post them during the event or email them beforehand at info@cirm.ca.gov.
If you miss the event, a recording will appear on our Facebook videos page soon after the broadcast.
We look forward to seeing you there.