Pentoxifylline Not Helpful in ALS

The drug pentoxifylline, which has some anti-inflammatory and possibly some anti-cell death actions, has been found ineffective and possibly harmful in ALS in a 400-person, multicenter European study. There were 120 survivors in the placebo (inert substance) group and only 103 in the pentoxifylline group.

Vincent Meininger at the Salpetriere Hospital in Paris and colleagues who published the results in the Jan. 10 issue of Neurology say the drug may have interacted negatively with riluzole, which all the patients also took.