UK Research Prompts Clinical Trial
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LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 2, 2009) − Clinical trials for using a drug to treat
spinal cord injuries have begun at several hospitals and research institutions across the
United States and in Canada.
The trials on riluzole, an already-marketed drug for slowing the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), builds on the research of two University of Kentucky researchers, Joe Springer and James Geddes, who published several studies investigating the potential uses of the drug. Both researchers have affiliations with the UK Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC).
Springer, the Cardinal Hill Endowed Chair in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the UK College of Medicine, first became interested in using riluzole to treat acute spinal cord injuries when he was working on ALS. He also noted it had potential to work in concert with high doses of methylprednisolone in treating spinal cord injuries. Methylprednisolone has been the unofficial standard of care of acute spinal cord injuries since 1990.
He and Geddes, a professor of anatomy and neurobilogy and associate director of SCoBIRC, then began investigating the potential use of riluzole, which inhibits glutamate release that can exacerbate spinal cord injuries, in animal models.
Their work demonstrated that riluzole and methylprednisolone, used in combination, produce a better effect in improving functional recovery than using either drug by itself.
Their research was supported in part by the Kentucky Spinal Cord and Head Injury Research Trust, funding for which comes from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and by the National Institutes of Health.
The clinical trials will be conducted at the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center; the University of Miami in Miami, Fla.; the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore; Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia; Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas; the University of Texas at Houston; the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottsville, Va.; and the University of Toronto/Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, Ontario.
Sponsors and collaborators in the clinical trials are the Methodist Hospital System, Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense, AO Clinical Investigation and Documentation, and the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation.
The trials on riluzole, an already-marketed drug for slowing the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), builds on the research of two University of Kentucky researchers, Joe Springer and James Geddes, who published several studies investigating the potential uses of the drug. Both researchers have affiliations with the UK Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC).
Springer, the Cardinal Hill Endowed Chair in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the UK College of Medicine, first became interested in using riluzole to treat acute spinal cord injuries when he was working on ALS. He also noted it had potential to work in concert with high doses of methylprednisolone in treating spinal cord injuries. Methylprednisolone has been the unofficial standard of care of acute spinal cord injuries since 1990.
He and Geddes, a professor of anatomy and neurobilogy and associate director of SCoBIRC, then began investigating the potential use of riluzole, which inhibits glutamate release that can exacerbate spinal cord injuries, in animal models.
Their work demonstrated that riluzole and methylprednisolone, used in combination, produce a better effect in improving functional recovery than using either drug by itself.
Their research was supported in part by the Kentucky Spinal Cord and Head Injury Research Trust, funding for which comes from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and by the National Institutes of Health.
The clinical trials will be conducted at the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center; the University of Miami in Miami, Fla.; the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore; Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia; Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas; the University of Texas at Houston; the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottsville, Va.; and the University of Toronto/Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, Ontario.
Sponsors and collaborators in the clinical trials are the Methodist Hospital System, Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense, AO Clinical Investigation and Documentation, and the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation.