
Dr. Rutkove will receive $1 milliion for Lou Gehrig's disease efforts
A recent discovery by a man named Dr. Rutkove, was a tool which would help to reduce the cost of clinical testing on possible drugs for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or A.L.S.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive, fatal, neurodegenerative disease, which causes the muscles in the body to weaken and atrophy.
The method used by Dr. Rutkove was to place electrodes on the patient’s skin using a hand-held device which was connected to various electrodes. Electrodes emit painless electrical charges, and in this case, the charges would be directed at the muscles. There were differences noted between a normal, healthy muscle, and the weakening muscle, which is a characteristic of A.L.S.
Drug companies say that clinical trials for new drugs are extremely expensive, especially to test something of this magnitude. The cost for trials of one A.L.S. drug was said to be equivalent to the testing of two multiple sclerosis drugs. Therefore, this is the reason why, until today, there is still no single drug for the treatment of A.L.S. Nevertheless, creators of drugs say that Dr. Rutkove’s discovery will help greatly in the production of new A.L.S. drugs.
Dr. Rutkove won $1 million dollars for his discovery, as an answer to a challenge for medical research. The money will be awarded to the doctor at a New York in June.