Brain-derived neuro-trophic factor data

AMGN (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and REGN (Tarrytown, N.Y.) announced preliminary analysis of a Phase I/II trial in 283 patients, showing that those receiving BDNF had half the deterioration in breathing capacity compared to those on placebo.

Breathing capacity was measured by forced vital capacity, a clinical indicator in ALS. The difference in this measure was statistically significant. There was a trend towards increased survival, but this did not achieve statistical significance. No effect was found on isometric muscle strength or bulbar function. ...