Novartis And Tictrac Raise Awareness For MS With Health Tracking Challenge

Pharmaceutical company Novartis and health tracking and analytics platform TictracĀ recently partnered up to supportĀ World Multiple Sclerosis Day and raise awareness for this disease by launching the campaign The 7-Day Challenge to Live Like You. The challenge, one of the first integrations of emerging technological trends by a pharmaceutical…

Study Finds MS Drug Gilenya May Point To Development Of New PTSD Therapy

A new study on mice published in Nature Neuroscience finds that fingolimod (Novartis brand name Gilenya) a first-in-class sphingosine-1-phosphate-receptor modulator currently used in treating persons with severe relapsing remitting MS, may also have therapeutic value in treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The Nature Neuroscience study is titled…

Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use Adopts Positive Opinion For Plegridy As a Treatment for MS In The European Union

TheĀ CommitteeĀ for Medicinal Products for Human UseĀ (CHMP) of the European Medicines AgencyĀ recently offered a positive opinion for the marketing authorization of Biogen Idec’s Plegridy therapy, a pegylated interferon administered subcutaneously for adults with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). The positive opinion will now be sent to the European Commission, which grants…

Multiple Sclerosis Drug NerventraĀ® (Laquinimod) Disapproved in EU; Drug Developers Will Continue Research

Two pharmaceutical companies,Ā Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) and Active Biotech, have just confirmed reports that theĀ Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) is not recommendingĀ NERVENTRA (laquinimod) for use in treatingĀ relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) within the European Union (EU), according to a recent press release. Despite CHMP’s disapproval of TEVA…

Newly Acquired Patents For Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s DNA Therapies Spurs New Clinical Trials At Inovio

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, a drug development company working on treatments that modulate therapeutically important immune responses with the help of T-cells, recently acquired the worldwide rights (apart from China), to conduct pre-clinical studies to produce products for possible therapies to treat and manage Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

MRI Spectroscopy May Improve Accuracy in Predicting MS Progression

A new study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association Neurology says that predicting disease evolution is becoming essential for optimizing treatment decision-making in multiple sclerosis (MS), in which pathologic damage typically includes demyelination, neuro-axonal loss, and astrogliosis. The study, entitled “Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy…

New Secondary Progressive MS Drug Trial Completes Enrollment

Opexa Therapeutics, Inc., a drug delivery company based in The Woodlands, Texas, has been making significant progress in researching and developing TcelnaĀ®,Ā aĀ breakthrough T-cell immunotherapyĀ for multiple sclerosis (MS). The company recently announced they have reached their enrollment mark for conducting a Phase IIb clinical trial to testĀ Tcelna as a viable…

Combined Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Using Copaxone Relieves RRMS Symptoms In Study

Although the biological activity by which Copaxone (glatiramer) exerts its effects iĀ multiple sclerosis (MS) patients is not fully understood, it is believed it can block the induction of autoimmune encephalomyelitis as observed in recent experiments with mice.Ā  Research in animals and in vitro systems suggest that glatiramer acetate-specific suppressor…

Targeting B-cell Activity May Reduce MS Brain Lesions, According To GlaxoSmithKline-Backed Study

New research work from GlaxoSmithKline presented by Daren Ausin, PhD, at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting has implications for individuals with relapsinig-remitting multiple sclerosis. The presentation detailed a study that used GlaxoSmithKline’s ofatumumab in 231 patients with relapse-remitting multiple sclerosis. Ofatumumab is an anti-B-cell antibody, and it…

New Multiple Sclerosis Drug Target of U.S. and Japanese Researchers

The National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry,Ā based in Japan, announced that they willĀ initiateĀ a 3-month clinical trial on 9 patients withĀ multiple sclerosis,Ā beginning inĀ March. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease caused by mutations of lymphocyte immune cells, which attack and destroy a patient’s own nerve cells. Patients with multiple sclerosis typically…

Benefits of Cognitive Reserve in Multiple Sclerosis May Also Benefit TBI Patients

Researchers from theĀ Kessler FoundationĀ have found that higher educational achievement reduces the negative impact ofĀ traumatic brain injuryĀ (TBI) on cognitive status. The study appeared inĀ Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. It was reported in the study that cognitiveĀ ability after experiencing TBI differs in individuals even when their injury levelsĀ were comparable. As…