We urgently need more and better ALS treatments. Because of this, getting promising therapies out of the laboratory and into clinical testing as quickly as possible is key to making ALS a livable disease.
Medicare open enrollment begins Sunday, October 15, the annual period when individuals may add, drop, or make changes to their health insurance coverage, with selections remaining in effect for the next full year. After the open enrollment window closes on December 7, plan changes can only be made after a qualifying life event.
The FDA announced it has granted accelerated approval to tofersen, a treatment for people living with mutations of the SOD1 gene. This is a significant victory for the ALS community and our efforts to make ALS livable for everyone, everywhere, until we can cure it.
The ALS Association commends the FDA for approving tofersen under the agency’s accelerated approval pathway for the treatment of people living with ALS connected to mutations in the SOD1 gene. This marks the first time the FDA has approved a treatment for ALS under accelerated approval and serves as a promising endorsement of the antisense technology that underlies tofersen.
We thank the FDA Advisory Committee for their clear and compelling recommendation that tofersen be approved under the accelerated approval pathway. We urge the FDA to swiftly approve this urgently needed new treatment. Americans living with this rare and aggressive genetic form of ALS cannot wait.
The ALS Association submitted comments to the FDA’s Central and Peripheral Nervous System Advisory Committee, urging it to recommend approval of tofersen for people with ALS linked to a SOD1 gene mutation. The committee will meet virtually on March 22 to review data associated with Biogen’s new drug application.
The Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Northeast ALS (NEALS) Consortium announced topline results from Regimen D of the HEALEY ALS Platform Trial, which is evaluating pridopidine versus placebo in adults with ALS.
The ALS Association filed a formal objection to health insurer CIGNA for the company’s decision to exclude Relyvrio from its formulary. In a letter also shared with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Veterans Administration, the Association called on CIGNA to reverse its decision.
ICER’s review process now moves to a public hearing of the Midwest Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (Midwest CEPAC), which ICER defines as a core program comprised of health care officials from throughout the Midwest.