The annual ALS TDI Summit, hosted by the ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI), is a unique opportunity for the ALS community to learn first-hand about the newest developments in ALS research. The conference will begin with members of the ALS TDI science team providing updates on ALS TDI’s current research to end ALS. In the afternoon, we will welcome several leaders from across the ALS research and drug development community to share updates about new research, treatments in the clinical pipeline, and more. This year’s exciting lineup of guest speakers include:
Dr. Merit Cudkowicz, MD, MSc:
Dr. Merit Cudkowicz is the Julieanne Dorn Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Chief of Neurology Service at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Cudkowicz directs the MGH ALS Program and the MGH Neurological Clinical Research Institute. She is one of the founders and former co-directors of the Northeast ALS Consortium (NEALS), a group of over 100 clinical sites in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East dedicated to performing collaborative academic-led clinical trials and research studies in ALS. In conjunction with the NEALS consortium, she planned and completed over 15 multi-center clinical research studies in ALS. She is also the Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at MGH and the principal investigator of the HEALEY ALS Platform Trial.
Dr. Cudkowicz’s presentation, “New innovations in ALS therapeutics,” will address how a better understanding of disease biology has led to more therapies being in development in ALS than ever before. She will review some of the current approaches being pursued to prevent onset, slow progression, and repair function in ALS.
Dr. Lyle Ostrow, MD, PhD:
Dr. Ostrow is an Assistant Professor of Neurology in the Neuromuscular Division at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Ostrow is Chair of the Programmatic Panel for the Department of Defense ALS Research Program (ALSRP), presently the largest dedicated annual funder of ALS therapeutic discovery and early clinical validation. He led recent efforts to refine and develop new ALSRP funding mechanisms to help move novel pre-clinical therapeutics through the drug development pipeline, emphasize biomarker development, and foster open data and resource sharing. He is Director of the JHU ALS Postmortem Tissue Core, a collaboration with the CDC National ALS Registry which integrates clinical, pathological, and genomic data with ALS patient tissue samples and slides - all made broadly available to academic and industry ALS researchers around the world.
Dr. Ostrow’s presentation, “Sharing Hats: How pALS, advocates, scientists, clinicians, and industry are improving ALS therapy development together,” will discuss the way the DoD's ALSRP program has worked to leverage the combined wisdom of people from across the ALS space to help guide its efforts.
Justin Klee and Josh Cohen:
Amylyx is a pharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that is dedicated to the development of potential therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. Justin Klee and Josh Cohen co-founded Amylyx Pharmaceuticals in 2013 and continue to serve as its Co-CEOs and Co-Founders today. Together, they have raised nearly $250M in financing to support the development of new therapies for ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases. Amylyx’s Relyvrio (AMX0035), was recently approved by the FDA for treating ALS. The drug successfully completed a phase 2 trial in ALS in 2019 and a phase 3 trial is currently recruiting.
Justin and Josh will discuss the history, current state, and future of Relyvrio (AMX0035) in their presentation, “From Concept to Clinical Trials and Beyond.”
Dr. Steve Perrin, PhD:
Dr. Steve Perrin serves as the President and Chief Scientific Officer at Eledon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (formerly Novus Therapeutics, Inc.) He has 20 years of drug development experience, having held R&D positions at the Hoechst-Ariad Genomics Center, Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Biogen Idec, Inc. Prior to working at Eldon, Dr. Perrin has served as CEO of the ALS Therapy Development Institute, where he worked to develop the world’s largest ALS drug development program, bridging preclinical and clinical programs. This past May, Eledon announced that tegoprubart (formerly AT-1501), a drug invented at ALS TDI, had successfully completed a phase 2a trial in ALS.
In his presentation, “Tegoprubart (AT-1501) is Safe and Well Tolerated and Reduces Inflammation in Patients with ALS,” Steve will discuss the results of the phase 2a study and their implications for tegoprubart’s future in ALS.
Attending the Summit
This year’s ALS TDI Summit will take place on October 14th at the Boston Sheraton Hotel. Those unable to attend in person will be able to register to view the event online. Registration for both online and in-person attendees is free of charge. For more information about attending the ALS TDI Summit, visit https://fundraise.als.net/alssummit/.
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