More than 850 scientists, doctors, academics and professionals from all over the world in the field of ALS have been meeting since yesterday in Barcelona at the International Scientific Congress of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. The conclave aims to promote collaboration and exchange, and to explore the latest advances in research and possible treatments in “an optimistic moment of the disease”, according to the local head of the congress, Mónica Povedano, doctor from Bellvitge and reference in ALS in Europe.
“It is an optimistic moment because there are many clinical trials and new therapeutic targets are being described when we have spent many years having only one treatment. Now we are in a moment of great movement in research, and even if some trials fail, they will always help us”, points out Povedano. Finding a cure for the neurodegenerative process of ALS is by no means on the horizon, but treatments to slow down the disease will become more and more abundant, he says.
In this sense, the new role of biomarkers in the study of the disease is one of the star topics of the congress, which is being held for the first time in Spain. “They are a factor that helps us make the diagnosis, confirms it and establishes the prognosis, and we will see how they can predict the result of a pharmacological treatment”, explains the researcher. In his opinion, this congress must increase the visibility and position in Europe of Catalan research groups and must consolidate the continental network of researchers. “Sometimes we work too segmentally”, admits Povedano.
Juan Carlos Unzué, exporter from Barcelona, ??patron and affected by ALS, was at the opening ceremony of the congress, which had the participation of institutional representatives, such as the Minister of Health, Manel Balcells, and of the entities that have supported research on ALS in Spain in recent years.
Among the topics that will be addressed in this 21st edition, with a record number of attendees, are the regulatory differences in the approval of drugs in the USA, Europe and Canada. The presence of participants from South American and African countries aims to structure their incorporation into research platforms so that studies in populations other than those of developed countries can help to understand ALS, taking into account the relevance of ancestors and genetic load in the risk of developing a neurodegenerative disease.
About 3,000 people have ALS in Spain and 700 cases are diagnosed each year. 50% of those affected die in less than three years.
