FDA Approves Radicava, First New ALS1 Therapy in 22 Years

I realize this doesn't add anything to the conversation, but as someone whose mom passed away from ALS, I welcome anything that can remotely improve this terrible disease. Watching her go from walking to barely able to lift a glass in six months was devastating and I'd have given much for 33% more able-bodied time with her.

I have some problem to understand why this is presented as a therapy (may be I do not understand what it implies) when the paper (or I may have found the wrong paper) states:<p>&quot;Edaravone showed efficacy in a small subset of people with ALS who met criteria identified in post-hoc analysis of a previous phase 3 study, showing a significantly smaller decline of ALSFRS-R score compared with placebo. There is no indication that edaravone might be effective in a wider population of patients with ALS who do not meet the criteria&quot;<p>Another paper is quite skeptical:<p>&quot;Edaravone: a new treatment for ALS on the horizon? Orla Hardiman, , Leonard H van den Berg&quot;

<i>According to the ALS Association, the treatment’s list price is $1,000 per infusion, or about $146,000 annually, and it is expected to be available for use by August</i><p>A whole new class of drugs is reaching these prices. &quot;The insurance&quot; doesn&#x27;t really pay; those xx% increases every year in premiums do.

&gt; According to the ALS Association, the treatment’s list price is $1,000 per infusion, or about $146,000 annually, and it is expected to be available for use by August.<p>$146k&#x2F;year for being able to live a better life, or maybe at all. right up there with cancer treatments according to my ethical standards.

How does this works over there in US? Government or private insurance covers it?

probably better to post the paper: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;pubmed&#x2F;28522181" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;pubmed&#x2F;28522181</a> Paywall, tho. Someone with university access could probably help more than I.<p>The stuff is called edaravone. Radicava is the name that was made up by some marketing intern.

&gt; Results from the six-month Japanese clinical trial — in which 137 patients were randomized to receive either Radicava or placebo<p>Giving placebo to ALS patients? How is that allowed ? They should be able to tell already what is the course of a typical ALS patient without using such methods. For cancer drugs there are no placebo used since there is extensive survival data available to prove whether or not a drug actually makes any difference.