Neurology Journal Highlights: 6 New Studies

Hans-Christoph Diener, MD, PhD

April 18, 2022

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Dear colleagues, I'm Christoph Diener from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. Today I'd like to discuss six neurology studies that were published recently.

Edaravone for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

The first study deals with a substance called edaravone, which was previously investigated in Japan in placebo-controlled trials. In a subgroup of patients with ALS, there seems to be a benefit of this substance. Edaravone was approved in the United States and Japan, but not by the European Medicines Agency.

What do we know about edaravone in everyday clinical practice? A group in Germany sought to answer that by performing a real-world study with 116 patients treated with edaravone and another 116 patients who received standard of care. Both groups were propensity score-matched and received treatment for 14 months.

Unfortunately, edaravone had no impact on the progression of the disease, mortality, and time to ventilation. This means, most probably, that edaravone is not effective in patients with ALS or in the subgroups of patients who seemed to benefit in the study in Japan.

Results of the ATRIL Trial

The next study deals with the treatment of spinocerebellar ataxia type 2. Investigators in France behind the ATRIL Trialrandomized 45 patients with this condition to receive either

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