(KERO) — That bucket of ice water you poured on your head eight years ago is bearing some fruit, as some of the money raised by the social media challenge was used to fund studies around new medication for ALS.
The paralyzing nervous system disease also called Lou Gehrig's disease, affects about 30 thousand people in the U.S.
The Food and Drug Administration have approved the new therapy called Relyvrio which has been shown to slow the devastating paralysis.
That study was small and the therapy is still considered experimental, but the FDA approved it without a large scale clinical trial because the drug has been shown to be safe, despite questions about its effectiveness.
Patients, advocacy groups and physicians urged the FDA to approve it quickly, because there are few other options to treat the life-threatening disease.
However, it doesn't come cheap, the drug maker announced it will cost about 12 thousand dollars a month, which is 158 thousand a year.
Despite this, the company does expect insurance to cover most if not all of the costs and should be available in the u-s in the next 4 to 6 weeks.
