Lithium: Update October 2009

In February, 2008, a research group from Italy published an article in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) regarding the use of lithium in animals with ALS (SOD1 mice), and more importantly, people with ALS. The human study was done in a total of 44 patients. Sixteen patients were treated with a combination of riluzole (Rilutek) and lithium, and the remaining 28 patients received only riluzole. Remarkably, all 16 patients treated with lithium were still alive at 15 months whereas 8 patients treated with riluzole only had died. Based on these data, 2 clinical trials of lithium in patients with ALS were begun. In October, 2009, the first trial was stopped because of “futility”, meaning that there was no suggestion that the patients on Lithium were likely to demonstrate enough benefit to reproduce the findings in the Italian study. The second trial is ongoing, and should be analyzed by Spring, 2010.

Based on the negative findings of the first study, many patients have stopped taking Lithium.

Link to information about lithium: LITHIUM

Link to the PNAS article: PNAS ARTICLE