Endpoints

Chris Ritter, the co-owner of Oakland United Beerworks, never thought he’d make a profession out of brewing. He had always loved beer but was a lawyer by training. Brewing was his son Andrew’s great passion. From a young age, Andrew always knew he wanted to make beer. After college, he got into the industry and eventually became the lead brewer of his own brewery.

Everything changed for the Ritter family, however, when Andrew was diagnosed with ALS. When he passed away at the age of just 31, his parents made the difficult decision to keep the brewery going as a tribute to his memory. They have also dedicated themselves to helping end ALS as longtime participants and advocates for the Ales for ALS™ program – which supports research at ALS TDI through craft beer.

Today, Chris joins us to share how he’s working to honor his son’s legacy and stay active in the fight against ALS.

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We need more – likely many more – effective treatments to end ALS. Progress in ALS research has been too slow for too long but, in 2024, we’re witnessing significant advances and a new pace of progress. The past few years have see more treatments for ALS in clinical trials than ever before. Still, most drugs that reach trial fail, in any disease. However, the more experimental treatments that make it to trials – with good preclinical evidence to support them – the more likely there are to be successes.

Recently, we have even seen approvals for new ALS treatments, such as tofersen, a genetic treatment developed by Biogen for SOD1-related ALS, sold under the brand name Qalsody. Dr. Stephanie Fradette was one of the people behind milestone. As the VP Head of Neuromuscular Development at Biogen, she oversees the company’s research and development of treatments for ALS and related diseases.

Today, on Endpoints, Dr. Fradette joins us to talk about the current state of ALS research ­- the biggest challenges facing researchers, the developments that give her hope for the future, and how the ALS research community could better serve people with the disease.

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In 1999, Stephen Heywood, who was 29 years old at the time, was diagnosed with ALS. His family was devastated when they learned that there were no treatments that could slow or stop his disease. His brother Jamie decided that he had to do something about it, founding the organization that would eventually become ALS TDI – the world’s first nonprofit biotech – in the basement of his parents’ Newton, MA home.

The first hire Jamie made as he worked to get this new organization off the ground was Rob Bonazoli. In those days, Rob was responsible for, in his words, “everything non-scientific.”  Part of this included building the team that would carry out Jamie’s lofty research goals.

Many of the people he helped recruit at that time are still with the organization twenty-five years later. Two of those early employees were Ken Thompson, now ALS TDI’s Vice President of Facility Operations, and Fernando Vieira, our CEO and Chief Scientific Officer.

Today, on Endpoints, we’re joined by Rob – as well as Ken and Fernando – to talk about what it’s been like to see ALS TDI grow from its humble beginnings to one of the world’s leading ALS research institutions.

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Kids Quest to Cure ALS is an organization for kids, by kids. Their mission is to get young people involved in the fight against ALS. The group was founded by kids in the US and Canada – all of whom have been affected by a loved one’s ALS diagnosis. They are encouraging people under the age of 18 across both countries to band together to help raise funds for ALS research and bring awareness to the disease.

Today, on Endpoints, we’re joined by several members of the Kids Quest steering committee to tell us more about the inspiration behind their mission, and why it’s important to involve young people in the fight against ALS.

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One of the most common misconceptions about ALS is that it only affects older white men. In reality, the disease can affect anyone of any age – and of any ethnicity.

Many Shades of ALS, a team within the I AM ALS organization, is working hard to dispel some of these misconceptions. Their mission is to bring attention to people of color living with ALS and the unique challenges they often face – as well as providing resources for their mental, physical, and social well-being.

Juan Reyes is a veteran living with ALS, an advocate, and co-chair of Many Shades of ALS team. Lakeia Nard is a member of the team who lost her son, King’nazir, to a rare form of pediatric ALS and also runs her own nonprofit, Melanin Children Matter. Today, on Endpoints, they join us to talk about how the team came together, its mission, and how the ALS research and medical communities could be better serving people of color with the disease.

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When dealing with a disease like ALS, it can be hard to know where to turn for reliable information and advice. While your doctor and care team might be able to provide some answers to your questions, there are many topics that they might not be equipped to handle. There are many resources available on the internet, but it can be hard to know if you’ve found a reputable source.

Roon is an app that help solve this problem. It provides answers to questions about disease, including ALS, in the form of short video clips featuring researchers, doctors, caregivers, people with the disease, and more. They provide information about topics like treatments, current research into the causes of the disease, and advice about to day-to-day life.

Today, on Endpoints, we’re joined by Roon’s co-founder and CEO Vikram Bhaskaran to tell us more about the app, and how his own personal experience with ALS helped inspire it.

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Welcome to the latest episode of Endpoints Shorts, presented by the ALS Therapy Development Institute.

In these bite-size podcasts, we’ll be tackling important scientific concepts for people interested in ALS research, current clinical trials, and news from around the ALS space ­– all in 15 minutes or less.

Our guide throughout this series will be Dr. Nadia Sethi, ALS TDI’s Director of Community Outreach and Engagement. Today, Nadia joins us to talk about PTC Therapeutics phase 2 trial for PTC 857.

There are currently no treatments to stop or reverse ALS but the ALS Therapy Development Institute is working to change that. To learn more about ALS TDI and our research to end ALS, visit ALS.net

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Andrea Lytle Peet’s passion for running started simply enough. At age 30, she had just moved to Washington, D.C. to be with her husband, David. Stuck in their house during the snowy D.C. winter, she started walking on a treadmill in their basement to keep active. Soon, she had signed up for a local 5k. Then she stepped up to a 10 miler. Then came marathons and triathlons. Within three years, she had begun training for a half ironman.

Then, at the age of 33, everything changed when she was diagnosed with ALS. In four months, she went from the strongest she had ever been to walking with a cane. However, this would not be the end of her athletic career. Despite having ALS for almost a decade, she is still able to ride a recumbent bike, which she has used to continue to participate in marathons all over the country. Recently, she reached a major milestone – completing at least one marathon in all 50 states.

To commemorate this accomplishment and share her story to inspire others, Andrea is releasing two documents of her journey – a film, Go On, Be Brave and a memoir, Hope Fights Back. 

Today, on Endpoints, Andrea and David join us to talk about how she achieved these accomplishments in the face of such adversity, and why they believe it’s important to share her story with the world.

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Finding more accurate ways to measure ALS progression is one of the most important challenges facing scientists today. More sensitive, objective ways of measuring how the disease is affecting people could help make clinical trials faster and more efficient. Achieving this is one of the primary goals of the ALS Research Collaborative (ARC) – a program at ALS TDI that seeks to learn more about ALS by gathering data about the disease and sharing it with researchers all over the word.

One way we do this is to collect movement data by sending people with ALS wearable accelerometers – devices that track movement much like a smart watch. By wearing these devices on each wrist and ankle, participants can generate data about how their disease is affecting their movement over time.

Recently, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital partnered with ALS TDI scientists to analyze these data and demonstrate that these devices can be used as a reliable measure of ALS progression. A paper detailing their findings titled, At-Home Wearables and Machine Learning Sensitively Capture Disease Progression in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, was published in the journal Nature.

To tell us more about this research project and what it means for people with ALS, we’re joined by Dr. Anoopum Gupta, a Neurologist at MGH and the paper’s lead author.

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ALS TDI’s ALS Research Collaborative (ARC) is a global initiative that partners with people with ALS to gather data about the disease to help us better understand the underlying biology of ALS and accelerate the discovery of treatments. Recently, ALS TDI announced a partnership with Unite Genomics, a healthcare data analytics company, that will allow us to integrate a new data source into the program – electronic health records (EHRs).  

Today, on Endpoints, we’re joined by Unite Genomics CEO Taner Dagdelen, to tell us more about what this collaboration entails, what researchers can learn from EHR data, and what this means for present and future ARC participants. 

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