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jmccarty

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Hi Everyone, Dr. McCarty here; I've watched this particular forum for over 4 years now – watch it struggle at one point simply to survive and now it is thriving: a great resource of which I'm excited to be a new member. Some of you may be familiar with some of my previous work in MND helping folks understand the biology/pathology and to evaluate the various therapeutic options. In the past, I was proud to be able to help PALS not only to become empowered against this disease through sharing knowledge but also in facilitating the efforts ongoing around the the world to find and develop the therapeutics that PALS so desperately need. Time is not on the side of patients and despite having come to terms with the grieving that is inherent with what I did - becoming so involved with the brave folks coping with these diseases, at this point, I'm currently simply devastated by the situation.


If there is anything I can do for folks, feel free to send me a PM or email to my gmail account: jsmccarty . I'll try as well to look for threads where I can apply my MIT training and world-wide work experience to provide insights to the black box that is ALS. Given the basic needs in my personal life right now (simply trying to provide for my family), however, I may not always have time to view all the threads, so please don't hesitate to point out any such. Along those lines, I'm also very open to any and all suggestions as to how I can continue to be relevant in helping the important work that needs to be done in MND and other overlooked unmet medical needs; Ilook forward to hearing from folks.
 
So glad to hear you are here. Your knowledge of ALS is invaluable.

Sharonca
 
Hi Sharon - thanks for the welcome. It seems like such a long time since the Long Beach 101 - that was also the last one I did with Sean as he was just becoming sick at that time.
 
A BIG welcome to you!
It is great having you here and your knowledge and efforts to help are much appreciated!

You have already done a lot for the ALS community and your presence here will be invaluable.
 
Ditto, I look forward to your addition to our Forum.. Thanks for thinking of us...H4C
 
Hey Dr. M! Look forward to whatever contributions you are able to provide on this forum. I've been a member of the other forum at ALSTDI since my husband was diagnosed and respected your viewpoint. Great to have you here.

Good luck to you in your new endeavors.
 
thanks for joining us over here, Dr. McCarty. I've always appreciated your advice and musings on ALS, even if it hasn't always been what I wanted to hear.
 
Hi Rocmg - good to put a face to your name. Which reminds me, I need a photo here as well
 
so dr. m, for those of us who don't know you.......what's your p.h.d in? i gathered you are not an md but a reasearcher.....tell the rest of us what you do.

thanks, just curious
 
Hi Jen,
My PhD is from MIT and is in Biology. I've worked for quite a number of years in academia as well as industry. The last 4 years were spent working at a non-profit organization working solely on ALS with the mission of developing therapeutics, ALS TDI. There I facilitated the research efforts and spent much time answering patient's questions and doing outreach and communications including presentations, seminars, conferences and so forth.
 
well welcome, nice to have your insights here..

.i strolled over to the als tdi site and thought i would throw this out.......what do you think of the KNS-760704 trial?
 
I think this is probably the most interesting proposed clinical trial currently – the drug is called R+ Pramipexole and is a stereo-specific isomer of the drug Mirapex (which has roughly equal amounts of each isomer). However, the R+ form was considered inactive in that drug (simply present as part of the production).

Essentially there are two type of data useful in prioritizing a particular drug: one is pre-clinical data (in the lab) and the other is human (clinics or anecdotal). In this case, the best data to suggest benefit would be the latter as hinted at this year by the company promoting the drug (Knopp) and revealed at the recent Berlin meeting. The pre-clinical data would not be so consistent and thus essentially equivalent to many other proposed therapies for ALS.
 
Hi Dr. McCarty! Good to see you over here at the alsforums.
 
so do you think the r+ form was really inactive for parkinsons and why would the separation of the isomers target als and why not just use mirapex. has that drug been studied for als? lots of questions, i know, but i left the science studies in college and started raising kids instead:) having als sure does put the science bug back in you a bit.
 
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