An experimental drug could help improve movement for patients with spinal cord injuries, and it’s already making a big difference for one patient in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.

Larry Williams is walking, something he thought wouldn’t be possible after breaking his neck in a cycling accident three years ago. 

“Panic, despair, depression, anxiety — I couldn’t do anything,” Williams said. “I had no strength to even roll over in bed.” 

He wasn’t sure how much he would recover.

Wanting his life back, Williams decided to join a clinical trial in Chicago over the summer to test an experimental drug. He received one injection every day for three months. 

The experimental drug made by NervGen Pharma is an injectable peptide that’s supposed to help repair nerve connections disrupted by a spinal cord injury.

Monica Perez, of the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab at Northwestern University, is the lead investigator. She said she tested 20 patients with chronic incomplete cervical spinal cord injuries.

Early results are positive, she said, and she’s hoping for more approvals from the FDA.

“We’re super excited,” Perez said.

Williams, who’s able to work out now, said he quickly felt a difference after the injections.

“The walking became easier. I felt stronger,” he said. “I got more confident, and I just kept pushing.”

He’s had some setbacks, he said, but he’s hoping to get another round of treatment if it’s cleared by the FDA. It’s not clear when the FDA will weigh in.

“I feel excited and hopeful, and I hope that more people hear about this,” Williams 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.”

 Williams is even able to drive, and he’s heading toward what he hopes will be a complete recovery.

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