To the ALS Community,

At the end of each densely packed day, I’m heartened by the progress that the ALS TDI team makes as we discover, invent, and advance effective treatments for ALS. It is a privilege to be a part of this team and this mission – and to have a vantage where I can witness the progress. I want to share some of that perspective with you.

ALS is a complex disorder – with multiple genetic causes and diverse biological processes that drive disease progression. That means that ALS will require many treatments to meet everyone’s needs. And, while the current clinical treatment pipeline is as large and promising as it has ever been – we know that those treatments - even if made available - will not be completely effective for everyone. More treatments will be needed to end ALS. ALS TDI is the Drug Discovery Engine for ALS – it’s our job and our responsibility to fill the clinical pipeline with promising therapeutics until there are effective treatments for every person with ALS.

I have been researching ALS for 20 years and I can tell you without hesitation that we are getting closer than we have ever been to finding effective treatments – I also acknowledge that “closer” is not enough. While we at ALS TDI have made progress against our mission – recently contributing to the advancement of three potential treatments to human trials – we know that now, at a moment when our knowledge is growing and new technologies are available, we need to push to advance the most promising discoveries in our lab.

I invite you to attend an ALS Town Hall on Wednesday, October 20th, where I will be leading a discussion about our role as the ALS Drug Discovery Engine and answering your questions.

I believe that the more informed you are about the work we are doing, the more you can share in my sense of optimism that we will ultimately end ALS.

With sincere gratitude,

Fernando Vieira, M.D., CEO and CSO
The ALS Therapy Development Institute

If you would like to make a donation to support our ALS research, please click here.

To view a recording of this town hall, click here.