It could be a huge gamechanger for people living with a spinal cord injury, as an experimental drug is being tested right now in Chicago at the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab is showing promising results.
Clay Scherb is part of the study. He became paralyzed from the neck down after a diving accident, ultimately spending three weeks in an intensive care unit.
After he was released, he went to the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, where researchers there talked to him about a new study.
“To qualify, you had to be a year out and be able to take a few steps in a walker. It was very difficult for me to reach that cause my recovery was pretty slow,” he said.
A year later, his persistence would pay off.
Clay went on to become patient number 2 in the clinical trial of NVG-291 and after only nine weeks, his mom says the results were amazing.
“I went from needing support in harness to taking steps with less equipment to walk,” said Clay. “I started to notice that taking steps was getting easier and I was able to do stuff I could not do before.”
“I left in tears many days – feeling hopeful for the first time in a long time,” added Clay’s mom, Suzy. “When you have spinal cord injury – your life changes forever and I believe this drug made real change in my son.”
Clay had a total of 84 injections and no issues.
Dr. Monica Perez is the study’s lead researcher, and she has seen the results first-hand.
“There is a lot of promise, but we have to continue to do more science,” said Perez. “He showed improvements, and we are analyzing the results right now.”
Clay is now majoring in finance at the University of Illinois, excited about his future – and this clinical trial.