Clinical Trials in Ataxia: Hope, Opportunity, and Caveats

November 25, 2019

We’ve been talking a lot lately about Ataxia clinical trials. But what is a clinical trial? Should you sign up to participate when there is one available for your type of Ataxia? What happens during a clinical trial? Learn everything that you need to know with this webinar: Clinical Trials in Ataxia: Hope, Opportunity, and Caveats.

About the Clinical Trials in Ataxia Webinar

For the first time, there are clinical trials in the pipeline for potential Ataxia therapies. Clinical trials can be confusing if you don’t know what to expect. That’s why we got a few experts together to help us understand the process.

Dr. Vikram Shakkottai of the University of Michigan and Laura Ruggiero, Senior Clinical Trial Lead at Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, will help explain the ins and outs, from different types of clinical trials, to what happens at each phase, to the role a patient plays in the process.

The webinar will also feature Ken Jones, an Ataxia patient who is currently participating in a clinical trial. He will share his experience and discuss things to consider when choosing whether or not to participate in a research study.

Meet the Presenters

Vikram Shakkottai, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Neurology, Molecular and Integrative Physiology at the University of Michigan. Director of the Ataxia Clinic and Associate Chair for Research for the Department of Neurology at the University of Michigan. Co-Director of the Clinical Research Consortium for the Study of Cerebellar Ataxia.

Laura Ruggiero

Senior Clinical Trial Lead at Biohaven Pharmaceuticals. Ruggiero has 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry in the areas of medical education and clinical trial operations. She has led multiple clinical trials from Phase I to III. Her primary focus at Biohaven is on Ataxia research.

Ken Jones

Ataxia patient. Jones was diagnosed with SCA2 about 4 years ago. He became symptomatic in his fifties. He is currently participating in two Ataxia studies, including a clinical research study of a drug being developed for the treatment of SCA.

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How to Find an Ataxia Clinical Trial

ClinicalTrials.gov is the go-to website to find a clinical trial. It is the official database for all privately and publicly funded clinical studies. The website is maintained by the National Institute of Health.

In addition, NAF works with Ataxia researchers to maintain a list of actively recruiting research studies and clinical trials. View them on our Help Develop New Treatments page.