Larry Williams, a Bensalem resident left paralyzed after a cycling accident three years ago, has regained the ability to walk with the help of an experimental drug, writes Stephanie Stahl for CBS News Philadelphia.
After his accident, Williams thought he would never walk again.
“Panic, despair, depression, anxiety—I couldn’t do anything,” he said. “I had no strength to even roll over in bed.”
Hoping to regain his mobility, Williams joined a clinical trial over the summer for an experimental drug, administered daily for three months.
The injectable peptide from NervGen Pharma aims to repair nerve connections disrupted by spinal cord injuries.
The trial for 20 patients with chronic incomplete cervical injuries produced promising results, and Williams said he felt improvements almost immediately.
Despite some setbacks, Williams is now optimistic that the FDA will grant clearance for the drug that will allow him to undergo an additional round of therapy.
“I feel excited and hopeful,” he said. “There are so many thousands of people in the country and the world that could really use this drug, and it’s the first of its kind.”
Read more about Larry Williams’ remarkable recovery and the groundbreaking NervGen therapy in CBS News Philadelphia.
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