Effect of edaravone therapy in Korean amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients

Oxidative stress caused by free radicals has been implicated in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Edaravone (also known as MCI-186), a free radical scavenger, was approved as an ALS treatment in 2015 in Japan. However, the therapeutic effects of edaravone on patients with ALS outside of Japan are not yet reported. This study aims to investigate effects of edaravone on ALS patients in the Korean population. The study included 22 patients with ALS who were treated with edaravone. Of the 16 patients who finished six cycles of treatment, a mean decline of ALSFRS-R after the treatments was 5.75 ± 6.07 points and the average change of FVC was − 8.7 ± 17.0%. Patients experienced only minor adverse events. This study reports on the open-label study of edaravone on patients in Korea for ALS patients, which showed a modest effect of edaravone in this population of ALS patients.