The Symposium on ALS/MND first began 35 years ago in a hotel in Birmingham and was attended by only 50 researchers. Since then, the event has grown to be the largest medical and scientific conference on ALS/MND and is the premier event in the global calendar for researchers in the field. This now International Symposium is attended every year by over 1000 researchers, healthcare professionals and people with and affected by MND. This showcases just how much the field of MND research has exploded over the last 35 years and how many dedicated researchers there are across the globe who have chosen to focus their careers on the disease.
This year, the International Symposium on ALS/MND was held as a hybrid event in Montreal, Canada and online from 6 – 8 December 2024. We were joined in-person and online by over 1500 delegates from 48 countries to hear and discuss the latest updates in MND research, connect with others around the world and spark new ideas to help push forward towards a world free from MND.
Over the three days of the event, we heard more than 130 talks from researchers working on all aspects of MND research, from understanding the biology of disease to discovering effective treatments, through to improving the care and quality of life for people currently living with MND. There were presentations on a wide range of topics, highlighting the depth and breadth of MND research happening globally. There were sessions on clinical trials, early detection of disease and modelling MND in the lab through to clinical and respiratory management and decision making.
“It’s good seeing other people in the international ALS community because sometimes you’re so focused on what you’re doing, you forget about the bigger picture. It’s good to see the bigger scope and be able to bring that information back to your patients” – Marie-France Llkanje
The first day began with the Stephen Hawking Memorial Lecture, which sees a researcher working outside of MND share their cutting edge work to help those in the field think outside the box. This year’s lecture was presented by Professor Timothy Caulfield from the University of Alberta and he discussed some of the issues surrounding health misinformation and myths and how we as individuals can assess the evidence and debunk these myths.
One of the most popular sessions of the event every year is the clinical trials session and this year was no different! The lecture theatre was packed full of researchers, healthcare professionals and people with and affected by MND all eager to hear the very latest news on tests of potential treatments for the disease. There were updates given on five clinical trials happening around the world. Professor Merit Cudkowicz discussed the results from a Phase 2 trial of a drug called PrimeC. PrimeC is a combination of two existing drugs that are already used for other conditions. It is a unique combination of an antibiotic, called ciprofloxacin, and an anti-inflammatory medicine, called celecoxib. The results presented showed that PrimeC is safe and well tolerated by people with MND. The Phase 2 trial and open label extension also found promising signs that treatment with PrimeC could slow disease progression and delay breathing problems for some people with MND. These results now need to be further tested in a larger Phase 3 trial.
Each day we held poster sessions for researchers to present the findings from their work so far. These poster sessions are hugely important as they allow researchers at all stages of their careers to showcase their projects and enable informal chats with others working in the same or similar areas. The poster halls are always full of an enormous amount of interaction and buzz, creating a positive and exciting atmosphere. This year we had around 450 posters being presented on all aspects of MND research from scientists across the world.
“The Symposium is a great place to connect with some of the leaders in the field, both from a clinical, academic and industry perspective, to answer some of the challenging questions that we all face in the field of ALS.” – Dr Keith Mayl
The Symposium ended with a talk from Dr Angela Genge on outcome measures used in clinical trials in the closing session. Outcome measures in clinical trials are essential for showing whether the drug being tested actually led to meaningful benefits for people with MND. Dr Genge discussed some of the current measures used to determine results of clinical trials and considered new measures that could be introduced throughout the entire drug development process to improve this. If we can find the right outcome measures to use in clinical trials, the results we get from trials will be more accurate and it may be possible to determine earlier in the testing process whether drugs are showing signs of benefit for people with MND.
Each year at the Symposium, we welcome people with and affected by MND from the patient fellows program. This year we were joined by patient fellows in-person and online to hear about the work of MND researchers and share their unique perspectives on the work being presented. It gave them the opportunity to meet researchers at all career levels from around the world and form new connections with other delegates, including other patient fellows. These fellows play an important part in the International Symposium as they get to listen to researchers present the latest MND research that could one day impact them and help to bridge the gap between lab based researchers and people living with MND.
“As a spouse of someone living with ALS, it was important to see just how many brilliant minds are working on all aspects of this horrible disease. It brought us much hope.”- Anonymous
For some, this was their first time attending the International Symposium on ALS/MND and for others it was a chance to catch up with old friends and collaborators across the world. The event brought together the global community to build relationships and share ideas to progress research and make a difference to the field. It was great to see so many people in one place who are all working tirelessly to achieve the same goal; to find effective treatments and a cure for MND. We’re proud to host such a vital event for MND research and love to see the electric atmosphere of the community coming together each and every year to foster new international connections which we hope will last for years to come and help to drive research forward.
Thank you to everyone who attended in-person and online to help make this event a success. We’ll be back for the 36th International Symposium next year and look forward to seeing the community come together once again in San Diego!
We’ll be posting more blogs on some of the research presented at the Symposium in the coming weeks so please keep an eye out for these and you can find out more about the symposium on our website here.
