Two Meds May Be Better Than One

A combination of two medications — sodium phenylbutyrate and AEOL 10150 — appears to work better than either medication alone at extending life in ALS-affected mice, say researchers at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York.

Susanne Petri and colleagues, working in the laboratory of M. Flint Beal, an MDA research grantee, found that a combination of the two drugs, given to mice with genetic ALS after they developed symptoms, prolonged life span by 19 percent.

That compares favorably to treatment with sodium phenylbutyrate alone, which allowed for a 13 percent life extension, or AEOL 10150 alone, which extended life by 11 percent.

AEOL 10150 has been tested in ALS patients and found safe, and sodium phenylbutyrate is undergoing safety testing, with results expected by fall.

The investigators, who published their results in the April issue of Neurobiology of Disease, write, “This indicates that the two treatments administered together may have an additive mode of action.”