The Boston Herald
November 1, 2003 Saturday ALL EDITIONS
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 002
LENGTH: 271 words
BYLINE: By MICHAEL LASALANDRA

An ambitious new initiative to find a cure for Lou Gehrig's disease was announced yesterday by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Funded by a donation of $ 1.7 million raised by the CVS pharmacy chain, researchers will use genetics and other new technologies in search of the cause and first effective treatment of the debilitating and always fatal neuromuscular disease.

"We want to take over some of the functions of the pharmaceutical industry," said Dr. Robert Brown, director of the Day Laboratory for Neuromuscular Research at MGH.

He said that since only 30,000 people have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the major drug companies have not shown much of an interest in coming up with treatments.

Researchers will test thousands of new and existing drugs in mice injected with a human ALS gene, with the hope of beginning human trials within a fairly short period of time.

One study already under way is testing Celebrex, the anti-inflammatory drug, on ALS patients.

The $ 1.7 million was donated by CVS customers nationwide during a fund-raising effort spearheaded by CVS Vice President Jon Roberts, whose wife died of ALS two months ago.

"I challenge Dr. Brown and his team to think out of the box as they seek to find a cure," said Roberts, who lives in Atlanta.

Jason Dedrick, 32, of Somerville, who has battled ALS for six years, attended a ceremony to announce the new initiative yesterday at the MGH Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease in Charlestown, where the research will be based.

"This is very reassuring," he said. "I'm holding on to hope. Somebody's going to find the cure."