Despite decades of research, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS – the most common type of motor neuron disease – remains a painfully elusive target.
ALS affects an estimated 350,000 worldwide and is expected to increase in the coming years due to the ageing population.
The root cause is understood in the 10% of ALS patients with “monogenic” disease. Only about 3% of these patients can potentially access a therapy option. But for “sporadic” cases – the other 90%, the needle has barely moved therapeutically.
Beyond a lack of therapies, there is no definitive, non-invasive diagnostic method for ALS – especially in the early stages. There have been considerable efforts to identify biomarkers that would allow rapid, non-invasive and accurate diagnosis, but with limited success to date.
Most investigations for ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) have centered on where the damage can be observed – in the brain and central nervous system.
What if the damage originates somewhere else?
