This week, Jeremy and Jessica are joined by Dr. Neil Thakur, chief mission officer of The ALS Association, for an update on the continued fight to get the FDA to move more quickly in approving promising drugs for the treatment of ALS. Dr. Thakur discusses the agency’s recent decision to grant accelerated approval for Aduhlem, the first new drug approved for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and recent statements made by leaders of the FDA on the drug approval process.

To read ALS Association CEO Calaneet Balas’s recent column on the FDA’s approval process go to https://www.statnews.com/2021/06/22/canada-europe-shouldnt-lead-way-new-als-treatments/

Read Sen. Mike Braun’s (R-Ind.) analysis of the need to make sure FDA has all the tools it needs to be get promising drugs to the market more quickly at https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jun/29/promising-therapies-for-terminal-patients-advance-/

To learn more about the FDA’s decision to approve Aduhlem, go to https://www.statnews.com/2021/06/29/biogen-fda-alzheimers-drug-approval-aduhelm-project-onyx/

July 4 is the anniversary of Lou Gehrig’s famous speech. Learn more about Lou’s legacy at https://www.als.org/understanding-als/lou-gehrig

This episode was produced by Garrett Tiedemann and is brought to you by The ALS Association’s national office and the Association’s Minnesota/North Dakota/South Dakota Chapter