IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
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ALS stands for
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis—a disease of the central nervous system that
affects the ability of a person to move certain muscles.
In the United States, ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, named
after the famous New York Yankee first baseman who was one of the first famous people known
to become afflicted with the disease in the 1940s.
ALS attacks nerve cells in the central nervous system (which is a medical term for
the brain and the spinal cord). This disrupts the way the brain sends messages to
certain muscles.
As ALS progresses, nerve cells die and messages from the brain do not get through
to the muscles.
The muscles
become weak and cannot function properly. As the disease progresses, ALS makes it
difficult, and often impossible, to move these muscles.
It is not known how or why someone gets ALS, but it is not contagious.
Facts about ALS:
- About 5,600 people in the US are diagnosed with ALS each year
- Today, as many as 30,000 Americans have ALS
- Out of every 100 people with ALS:
- 20 will live for 5 years or more
- 10 will live for 10 years
- 5 will live for 20 years
- While ALS is not completely understood and there is no cure yet, it is being actively
researched. Medical experts are looking at the causes of ALS and new ways to stop
it
- There is only one medicine proven to treat ALS. It’s called RILUTEK.