Episode 154: NEALS 2025: Takeaways That Matter for ALS Care

Episode 154 of the NeurologyLive^® Mind Moments^® podcast is now live! Scroll down to listen or click here to subscribe on your favorite streaming service.

The Mind Moments podcast features exclusive interviews with leaders in the field discussing the latest research and disease management strategies across the breadth of neurology, including epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease, dementia, sleep disorders, and more.

In this episode, "NEALS 2025: Takeaways That Matter for ALS Care," ALS experts Jinsy Andrews, MD, MSc, and James Berry, MD, MPH, reflect on key themes from the 2025 NEALS Annual Meeting, now reintroduced as the Network of Excellence for ALS. They discuss format changes that elevated lightning science, the expanding gene therapy pipeline, and a growing slate of NEALS-affiliated trials. The conversation highlights updates from the HEALEY Platform Trial, the MY-MATCH biomarker-guided precision trial, SOD1 program data, and new antisense and viral vector therapies aimed at sporadic ALS. They also explore the impact of Act for ALS on trial access, the ALL ALS biospecimen repository, and NIH-supported expanded access cohorts. The discussion closes with insights on combination therapy strategies, genetic subtypes, presymptomatic enrollment, and how new collaborations, digital endpoints, and infrastructure advances are shaping momentum heading into 2026.

The stories featured in this week’s Neurology News Minute, which will give you quick updates on the following developments in neurology, are further detailed here:

• FDA Approves Doxecitine and Doxribtimine Combination Therapy as First Treatment for Thymidine Kinase 2 Deficiency
• Supplemental New Drug Application Submitted for AXS-05 as Treatment for Alzheimer Disease Agitation
• BTK Inhibitor Fenebrutinib Meets Primary End Points in Phase 3 Trials for Both Relapsing and Primary Progressive MS

EPISODE BREAKDOWN

• 1:05 – Reflections on meeting highlights and NEALS rebranding into a global network
• 5:00 – Notable NEALS-affiliated trials and promising new mechanisms in ALS care
• 12:45 – Combination therapy strategies and future approaches in ALS research
• 15:20 – Neurology News Minute
• 18:00 – Expanding clinical trial access for rare and genetic ALS subtypes
• 22:10 – Building momentum and expectations for the 2026 NEALS Annual Meeting

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