A regulatory framework Although common in other process manufacturing industries (e.g., food and chemicals), continuous processing is at a nascent stage in the pharmaceutical industry, where batch manufacturing is the prevailing mode.
When the motor neurons in the brainstem are affected (bulbar ALS), the muscles used in speech and swallowing are impaired. ALS only affects muscles that are moved voluntarily (such as those in the mouth or arm) and does not impact those muscles involved in involuntary movements, such as digestion.
In ALS, nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control movement stop functioning. The condition leads to paralysis, and patients eventually cannot breathe or swallow on their own. The disease afflicts about 350,000 people a year worldwide, and about half of patients die within three years of diagnosis.