IGF-1, the main component of Iplex, was the subject of a recent clinical trial in ALS. It involved 330 people with ALS from 20 ALS treatment centres across the United States. The drug was injected under the skin (subcutaneous delivery) in a randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled trial – this is the gold standard way of conducting a clinical trial. At the end of the two-year treatment period, there were no differences between people with ALS who received IGF-1 and those who received placebo in muscle strength, the need for a tracheostomy for breathing, or survival, indicating that IGF-1 provided patients no benefit.