Phase III Clinical Trial of Minocycline in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis The Minocycline Trial compared minocycline to placebo for efficacy and safety. Minocycline is a tetracycline antibiotic that helps protect nerve cells in animal studies. This clinical trial, funded by the National Institute of Health, was the final important step in determining whether minocycline helps people with ALS. Unfortunately, the results of the trial showed that minocycline did not slow the rate of disease progression in ALS. In fact, the group that took minocycline got slightly worse than the group that took placebo. The side effects associated with minocycline included neurological symptoms such as dizziness, fatigue and headache, as well as gastrointestinal symptoms such as constipation, nausea and diarrhea. If you are currently taking minocycline, please contact your physician to discuss discontinuing its use. Despite these results, those who participated made a meaningful contribution to our common goal of identifying a treatment. The trial will yield important information for ways to improve the design of future trials and the implications will impact ALS for years to come. Please contact Carolyn Doorish, Project Coordinator, if you have any questions at cd2141@columbia.edu, or 212- 305-2027.