Ampyra is the first and only FDA-approved therapy addressing walking impairment in MS patients — one of the most difficult and pervasive challenges of the disease. In clinical trials, patients who took Ampyra demonstrated an increased walking speed, regardless of which of the four major types of MS they exhibited (relapsing remitting, secondary progressive, progressive relapsing or primary progressive). Researchers at Purdue developed the original concept and basic science, and conducted initial animal studies at Purdue's Center for Paralysis Research facilities. The first clinical testing of the drug in paraplegic canines occurred on the Purdue campus in the School of Veterinary Medicine. Borgens received his PhD in biophysics and experimental zoology from Purdue in 1977 and was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University for three years. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from North Texas State University in 1970 and 1973, respectively. He was a National Paraplegia Foundation Fellow at Yale and worked at Jackson Laboratory and the Institute for Medical Research before joining Purdue's faculty in 1982.

Borgens is the founding director of Purdue's Center for Paralysis Research and a founding board member and chief scientific officer for Andara Life Sciences Inc. Purdue Today highlights Purdue graduates who develop innovations and breakthroughs that help move the world forward by featuring two each month in the Purdue Today newsletter and on social media.

For more information, visit the Inventors and Innovators website.