{"id":22031,"date":"2023-08-07T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=22031"},"modified":"2023-08-08T06:40:45","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T06:40:45","slug":"new-als-medication-offers-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=22031","title":{"rendered":"New ALS medication offers hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Marine Corps Veteran got an infusion of hope this week when he became the second patient in Texas\u2014and the first Veteran in the country\u2014to receive a groundbreaking drug aimed at slowing the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new ALS medication, Qalsody, was approved by the FDA in April<\/a> of this year.\u00a0Roy Swearingen, 65, from Cypress, Texas, received the medication at Michael E. DeBakey VA<\/a> in Houston and feels optimistic about the drug\u2019s benefits.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am hoping for the best, and I\u2019m grateful to be able to get this new medication. My VA doctors told me about the research into this drug and when it became FDA-approved, they were right on top of getting me started on it as soon as possible.\u00a0I can\u2019t thank them enough,\u201d Swearingen said.<\/p>\n

Qalsody is used for the treatment of a rare form of ALS in adults who have a mutation in the superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) gene. \u201cAbout 1 to 2 percent of ALS patients have the SOD1 gene, making them eligible for this new medication. This is the first approved treatment to target a genetic cause of ALS and we are thrilled to offer it to Mr. Swearingen and other eligible Veterans,\u201d said Dr. James Orengo,\u00a0 director of the Houston VA ALS Center.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/a>
Dr. Mandava, Dr. Rahbar, Roy Earl Swearingen III, Dr. Orengo, Richel Aliboso, NP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe have a three year old son who wants to know his father.\u201d<\/h2>\n

Swearingen was diagnosed with ALS a little over a year ago and, according to his wife, Sally, the availability of a new medication means the world to his entire family.\u00a0\u201cWe are very hopeful that we will see an improvement or at least a slowing of the ALS symptoms as a result of the new medication. We have a three year old son who wants to know his father,\u201d Sally said.<\/p>\n

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease, is a neurological disease that causes degeneration of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, leading to muscle weakness, atrophy and loss of function. ALS ultimately robs a person of the ability to walk, talk, eat and breath. The ALS Association says over 5,000 people are diagnosed with the disease every year and most people who develop ALS are between the ages of 40 to 70.\u00a0Early diagnosis of ALS is very important, especially when it comes to Veterans.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough there currently is no cure, early detection and expert clinical care can provide optimal quality of life through a total body and wholistic management of symptoms,\u201d Orengo said.\u00a0\u201cResearch tells us that Veterans are at greater risk of being diagnosed with ALS than those with no history of military service. At VA, we are determined to make sure our Veterans have access to the latest available medications and treatments of ALS symptoms.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Houston VA offers Veterans with ALS a state-of-the-art multi-disciplinary team approach to their care in a specialized ALS Center.\u00a0\u201cThe Houston VA ALS team is thrilled to be able to offer Qalsody as an option for ALS Veterans.\u00a0This is an exceptional example of personalized medicine that showcases the VA\u2019s agility in offering cutting edge therapy to Veterans in a timely manner,\u201d said Dr. Pitchaiah Mandava, chief of neurology.<\/p>\n

For Sally Swearingen, her husband\u2019s ALS diagnosis is one of the biggest challenges of her life.\u00a0Born and raised in Iraq, Sally has lived through three wars and is determined to support her husband in the fight against the health and life challenges ALS presents.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting an ALS diagnosis has been devastating, but in my gut I know the right thing to do is to try and fight it with the latest medications and the best medical care. This new medication and VA is offering us hope, and that\u2019s what keeps us going,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Marine Corps Veteran got an infusion of hope this week when he became the second patient in Texas\u2014and the first Veteran in the country\u2014to receive a groundbreaking drug aimed at slowing the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).\u00a0 The new ALS medication, Qalsody, was approved by the FDA in April of this year.\u00a0Roy Swearingen, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":22033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[477,5,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-als","category-health","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22031"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22034,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22031\/revisions\/22034"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}