Essentia Health's new drug treatment for a long-term ALS patient

Essentia Health's new drug treatment is administered through the ALS Expanded Access Protocol (EAP), but it is a new, non-FDA approved drug treatment that was first administered to their very first patient with long-term ASL, Todd Lauer, here in the Northland.

Todd Lauer has been living with the disease for almost 9 years. But the new drug treatment from Essentia Health gives him and his family hope.

“Normally, if you had it [ALS] Two years or more, that's too long. They want to see progress and things like that,” Lauer said. “So it gave our family hope, didn't it? It gave us hope that we can do more things as a family that most people take for granted.”

Lauer is the first patient to try Essentia Health's new drug treatment, but several other ALS patients are interested in trying it as well. Dr. Amber Erickson, the ALS Association's medical director at Essentia Health's Duluth Clinic Neurology, says the EAP, however, provides access to non-FDA-approved drugs that could help people with chronic ALS.

“Never Surrender has been very supportive of us over the last few years, allowing the EAP to offer drugs that are not currently FDA approved to patients who are unable to participate in research trials. We have a list of interested individuals from the patients who come to our clinic,” said Dr. Erickson. “So we hope to be able to enroll more patients in the next few weeks or months.”

Never Surrender Inc. is leading the fundraising effort to fight ALS in Minnesota. David Kolquist, the nonprofit's president, says this new drug treatment can give hope to people who have been living with the disease for several years.

“I had a brother who battled ALS for 10 years. They lived five years without hope. There was no medication. When you're terminally ill, there's only one direction to go,” Kolquist said. “But today is the day that people in the Northland actually get help. It took a lot of work by a lot of people to make this day a reality.”

The new treatment took four years to develop, but Kolquist says it's a big step for people in the north of the country. Minnesota is the state with the second most ALS cases in the US, with an estimated 450 patients. Wisconsin and Michigan are also among the top seven states with the most ALS cases.

For more information about Never Surrender Inc., click here. For another story about Todd Lauer's involvement in raising funds and awareness for ALS, click here.