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Our Mission & History
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Our Mission
Our mission is to translate scientific advances into new treatments for people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Motor Neuron Disease (MND) as rapidly as possible.
To achieve our goal, NEALS functions as an academic research consortium, a contracted research organization, and a resource tool for ALS community. Learn more about our structure.
Our Values
The NEALS is committed to the principles of open scientific communication, peer review, full and open disclosure of potential conflicts of interest, and democratic governance of its organization and activities.
History
NEALS was founded in 1995 with 9 academic clinical centers in the New England area. With the help from the ALS Association's TREAT ALS Network>> and our generous donors, the NEALS membership has grown to over 100 research centers across North America, Ireland, and Israel committed to performing research in ALS and MND.
Landmarks
1995: NEALS was formed by 9 investigators in the New England area who wanted to develop new clinical research opportunities for patients with ALS.
1995: The clinical trial of Topiramate in ALS became the first NEALS-affiliated ALS trial.
2001: NEALS held its first Annual Meeting to review developments in ALS research, discuss potential new therapies, and prepare research sites for new clinical trials in ALS.
2007: NEALS formed a shared sample repository with samples collected by NEALS members during their clinical research efforts. The samples were made widely available to ALS investigators all over the world.
2010: NEALS was thrilled to announce that two NEALS-affiliated, phase II trials had positive results. The trial sponsors continued on to perform late stage trials in ALS.
2010: NEALS began to address the clinical research needs of other rare motor neuron diseases, including Primary Lateral Sclerosis & Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia. NEALS is working to develop new clinical research efforts in these diseases using the NEALS model of scientific collaboration.
2011: With the help of the ALS Therapy Alliance>> and the ALS Association>>, NEALS took on new efforts to improve patient access to clinical research information, including launching a new website devoted largely to this cause. |
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