Drug used for motor neuron diseases holds promise for spinal cord injury, finds study (riluzole)

Medical Xpress / University of Toronto / eBioMedicine ^ | Gabrielle Giroday / Michael G. Fehlings et al

[ConservativeMind]

A drug called riluzole, commonly used to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other motor neuron diseases, could also assist in recovery from spinal cord injuries, according to research.

The new study showed that riluzole may offer benefits if taken within 12 hours of the injury occurring.

"This is a very valid and safe treatment option for clinicians and patients to consider. There's quite rigorous control data now to show that," says Michael Fehlings.

One of the most important takeaways from the research was the use of the Global Statistical Test (GST)—a new method of analyzing clinical trial results that enabled the data to be used in a way that tracked patients' outcomes at multiple stages, rather than a single end point.

The researchers say the test did a more comprehensive job of measuring the drug's total effect on patients by factoring in how riluzole affected things such as patients' neurological improvement, independent functioning and quality of life.

Pedro said his work was based on data from the RISCIS (Safety and Efficacy of Riluzole in Acute Spinal Cord Injury Study) trial of 2023.

The findings are based on data collected from 131 patients who had spinal cord injuries, and whom researchers followed for one year after the injuries happened. More than 80 percent of the patients were male.

Sixty five of the patients received riluzole about 12 hours after their injury for a 14-day period. The other 66 patients received a placebo.

When researchers measured how patients were doing six months after injury, they found that taking riluzole led to 58 percent "overall better outcomes" for people who took the drug, compared with the group who took the placebo.

The drug is also inexpensive and leads to low side effects for patients, he adds.

[ConservativeMind]

Riluzole (Rilutek) used within 12 hours of a pitential spinal cord injury provided 58% better outcomes for patients, measured six months later.

A month of the drug is $28, so it’s cheap for a day in the ER.

[ConservativeMind]

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[sauropod]

Bkmk

[MikelTackNailer]

Is it only effective for that small window post-injury?