Carlsbad's Ionis establishes $25,000 scholarship for local ALS patients

CARLSBAD (CNS) - Carlsbad-based pharmaceutical company Ionis announced today that it has established a $25,000 scholarship to provide remote classes and therapy for San Diego-area ALS patients amid social distancing guidelines necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ionis Hope Scholarship will allow ALS patients to take part in group classes, massage therapy, meditation and functional group therapy offered by Adapt Functional Movement Center in Carlsbad. Adapt is offering its services for patients and their caregivers via live, individualized online video sessions during the pandemic.

"We know that sick people depend on us. It's why we will never stop innovating to deliver breakthrough medicines that bring hope to patients with unmet needs,'' said Kristina Bowyer, Ionis' vice president of patient advocacy. "As members of the ALS community, we honored to support patients and their families beyond the medicine that we develop, including through patient-centered programs such as the Ionis Hope Scholarship.''

Those interested in participating can register at https://adaptmovement.org to take part in the classes, which are being offered

over Zoom.

Adapt executive director and found John Monteith said, "It has always been our mission as an organization to provide the best in integrative recovery sciences to individuals who have chronic, life-altering conditions and to do so without requiring them to tap into their precious financial resources. This scholarship enables us to do just that.''