20 March 2010

[Watch the Fox 8 News video below this text]

A small research company on the North Shore is launching a ground breaking protocol that the world will be watching. For the first time ever, patients with Lou Gehrig’s disease could have a glimmer of hope.

TCA Cellular Therapy in Covington has the first Food and Drug Administration approval to begin a trial using adult stem cells to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.  Cardiologist, Dr. Gabriel Lasala is co-owner and medical director of TCA.

“This will be a center to treat ALS patients and patients with other diseases with stem cells, so this is tremendous,” said Lasala. ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, attacks the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. It has no cure.

Billy Dyle was diagnosed with the disease five years ago. He is hoping for any help to slow the progression. “It’s been over 70 years since Lou Gehrig had the disease and it’s the same today. Doctors tell you it’s a fatal disease and there’s no cure,” Dyle said. “Your mind will tell you to pick up a pen but your hand cannot move to do that – it’s being trapped inside the body. So we hope the stem cells can help bring greater movement to regain what was lost,” said Kelly Viator of the ALS Association of Louisiana and Mississippi.

Stem cells are taken from a patient’s bone marrow, multiplied in the lab for 21 days, and then are later injected into the same patient’s spinal cord.

Lasala says a patient could see the effects in six to eight weeks.