Veterans have a Significantly Increased Risk of 100% Fatal ALS, Caused by their Service for our Country
FDA Advisory Committee Meeting is Essential to Allow Veterans’ Voices to be Heard about Need for Access to a Medical Arsenal including NurOwn
WASHINGTON, Nov. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — To the Honorable Dr. Robert Califf and Dr. Peter Marks:
We represent Veterans with ALS who support Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics’ request for the FDA to hold a public Advisory Committee meeting (“AdCom”) to engage in scientific discourse about the “clinically meaningful” evidence supporting FDA’s approval of a mesenchymal stem cell therapy, NurOwn.
When we volunteered to serve, we swore an oath to protect our country against all enemies. We knew a day may come when we could be fighting for our lives. We never imagined that day would be once we returned home safely. Our enemy is now ALS.
ALS is universally fatal. One in six people who dies of ALS is a Veteran. According to a VA Report, 1,055 Veterans die of ALS each year. Since 9/11, three times more Veterans have lost their lives to ALS than those lost in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
In 2008, the VA recognized ALS as a presumptive, compensatory illness (a 100% service-connected disability) thanks to the leadership and Congressional testimony of Brigadier General Thomas Mikolajcik (“General Mik”), Commander of the 437th Airlift Wing at the Charleston AFB.
Unwilling to let Veterans’ suffering continue to be ignored, General Mik…
