At 71 years old, facing a terminal diagnosis, Colorado resident Tom Pringle has one more thing he wants to do before he dies: help other people in similar situations by trying an experimental drug to treat his ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
“Don’t feel sorry for me,” Pringle said during a recent interview. “Just give me an opportunity to see if this drug works. If it has any effect for me, then it obviously would have an effect for other people with ALS, and that’s what we’re trying to do here.”
But his efforts to try an experimental drug called Tonabersat have hit a dead end, at least temporarily, as his doctors have declined to supervise his use of Tonabersat.
“Why won’t they sign off?” Pringle asked. “Sounds like a no-brainer.”…