New drug may show promise as treatment for people with ALS – News 12 Bronx

For the first time in a long time, there is hope for those people living with ALS, also known as Lou Gherig's disease, and it may be thanks in part to a Facebook page.

In the summer of 2014, the Ice Bucket Challenge swept across the world on social media. That challenge helped raise millions of dollars.

At the time, Pat Quinn of Yonkers had just been diagnosed with ALS and was one of the founders of the viral sensation.

Six years later, Quinn is paralyzed, cannot speak and cannot eat, but he's still alive hoping for a cure or at least a treatment.

A new drug shows promise to stop the debilitating effects of the terrible disease.

The drug is a promising treatment, not a cure. It will not reverse anything that is lost already.

News 12's Scott McGee talked to Quinn's dad about how he feels about the hopeful news.

Quinn's father and the ALS Association want the FDA to skip the next round of trials and give this treatment to everyone, because the disease has a 100% fatality rate.

But what this drug may do is buy time until something better comes along. Still, researchers say there is still much work to do before that can happen and that's time these patients don't have.

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New drug may show promise as treatment for people with ALS - News 12 Bronx