STAT+: Color me skeptical: Drinking gold is not an ALS cure

STAT PlusOpinionAdam’s Biotech Scorecard Color me skeptical: Drinking gold is not an ALS cure Plus: One of biotech’s worst-ever CEOs was fired Manage alerts for this article Email this article Share this article By Adam FeuersteinMay 7, 2026 Senior Writer, Biotech Adam Feuerstein[email protected]Adam Feuerstein is a senior writer and biotech columnist, reporting on the crossroads of drug development, business, Wall Street, and biotechnology. He is also a co-host of the weekly biotech podcast The Readout Loud and author of the newsletter Adam’s Biotech Scorecard. You can reach Adam on Signal at stataf.54.

This is the online version of Adam’s Biotech Scorecard, a subscriber-only newsletter. STAT+ subscribers can sign up here to get it delivered to their inbox. It’s been a while since I wrote a “Mean Adam” newsletter.Advertisement The biotech company Clene is developing a treatment for ALS called CNM-Au8 that it describes as a “highly concentrated aqueous suspension of catalytically-active, clean-surfaced, faceted gold nanocrystals.” Allow me to translate: The Clene “drug” is gold microdust suspended in water.

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Subscribe Log In ALS, biotechnology, Cancer, drug development, research, STAT+ Submit a correction requestReprints Adam Feuerstein Senior Writer, Biotech Adam Feuerstein is a senior writer and biotech columnist, reporting on the crossroads of drug development, business, Wall Street, and biotechnology. He is also a co-host of the weekly biotech podcast The Readout Loud and author of the newsletter Adam’s Biotech Scorecard. You can reach Adam on Signal at stataf.54.

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