FDA Approves New Drug to Treat ALS

The drug, known chemically as edaravone, has been sold by Japan-based Mitsubishi Tanabe in Japan and South Korea since 2015.

In the United States, the only other approved ALS medicine, generic riluzole, modestly slows the progression of the disease in some people.

After six months of treatment with edaravone on top of standard-of-care, data showed the intravenous drug reduced the rate of functional decline in patients by about a third, Dr Jean Hubble, VP of medical affairs, at Mitsubishi Tanabe's U.S. unit MT Pharma America Inc (MTPA), said.

ALS, whose cause is largely unknown, garnered international attention when New York Yankees player Lou Gehrig abruptly retired from baseball in 1939, after being diagnosed with the disease.