**5.3.45 Lithium**

Lithium has been described as inductor of autophagy and anti-oxidant. Clinically, it is used as mood stabilizer.

In a phase II study (EudraCT ), lithium did not show efficacy with regard to survival and keeping of patient autonomy (Chio et al.).

In another phase II study, lithium was reported to delay disease progression (Fornai et al., 2008), but in a follow-up, riluzole add-on phase II study (NCT00818389), lithium has been proven to be safe and well tolerated in ALS patients, but did not slow disease progression (Aggarwal et al.). Due to these findings, two other studies of lithium are currently not recruiting patients (NCT00925847, NCT00790582).
