New ALS treatment brings hope to patients

A patient suffering from a type of ALS — a progressively deteriorating, fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by muscle weakness and atrophy — became on Thursday the first in China to receive a therapy that targets a gene that causes the disease.

Liu Jun, a professor with the neurology department of Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, who is in charge of the case of the 49-year-old woman at Ruijin-Hainan Hospital in Hainan province, said that the medical team will conduct comprehensive assessment of the patient — including rating her activities, electromyography, imaging and tests for specific genes — in around half a year to evaluate how the injection has worked.

The woman, a native of Shandong province, was diagnosed in Beijing in 2022.