June 23, 2023 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD Regular vaccinations for most MS patients recommended by experts People with multiple sclerosis (MS) should generally follow a regular vaccination schedule similar to their healthy peers, with certain adjustments made if they’re on particular disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), according to a group of experts in Europe who devised a set of more than 50 evidence-based guidelines for the…
July 2, 2021 News by Margarida Maia, PhD UCL Neurologist Wins 2021 Charcot Award for Efforts in MS Research Alan Thompson, dean of the Faculty of Brain Sciences at University College London (UCL), has won the 2021Ā Charcot Award, a prize given once every two years for a lifetime of achievement in research into the understanding and treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). āThe Charcot Award is viewed by…
July 30, 2019 News by Ana Pena PhD Ponesimod Fares Well in Phase 3 Trial for Relapsing MS, Janssen Announces JanssenĀ has announced positive, top-line results from its Phase 3 OPTIMUM study, testing the effectiveness and safety of ponesimod tablets, compared to Sanofi‘s Aubagio (teriflunomide), in adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). The study met its primary goal ā a reduction in the…
June 20, 2019 Columns by Tamara Sellman Need to Know: What Are ACTRIMS and ECTRIMS? Editor’s note: āNeed to Know” is a series inspired by common forum questions and comments from readers. Have a comment or question about MS? Visit our forum. This week’s question is inspired by a frequent reference made in our forums as well as in our columns and articles.
January 31, 2019 Columns by Tamara Sellman Need to Know: High-dose Biotin Protocol Editor’s note: “Need to Know” is a series inspired by common forum questions and comments from readers. Have a comment or question about MS? Visit our forum. This week’s question is inspired by the forum topicĀ “Have you tried the high dose biotin protocol?“, from…
October 8, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: aHSCT and Fatigue, What’s Hot at ECTRIMS?, Genes that May Impact MS Lower Fatigue Reported by MS Patients After aHSCT in Canadian Study Fatigue affects 90 percent of people with MS. It certainly impacts my life. This study, though very small, reports a 36 percent reduction in the median modified Fatigue Impact Scale (mFIS) score three years after autologous…
June 20, 2018 News by Alice MelĆ£o, MSc #EAN2018 ā New Guidelines for MS Treatment in Europe Set by EAN, ECTRIMS New treatment guidelines for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in Europe were set in place through an initiative undertaken by the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) and the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS). Launched in parallel to the 4th Congress of the European Academy…
October 17, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD #MSParis2017 – Genentech to Share Host of New Ocrevus Data at ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting GenentechĀ will present a host of new information on its multiple sclerosis treatmentĀ OcrevusĀ and lessons its scientists have learned about the disease at the 7th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting in Paris, Oct. 25ā28. The presentations will offer new insights into the therapy's mechanisms, safety and effectivenessĀ in people with the primary progressive and relapsing forms of MS. They will also look at new ways to track MS, including additional biomarker possibilities. MS experts say the joint meeting of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) and Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) is one of the largest global congregations of scientists working on the disease. The information Genentech plans to present will demonstrate "the commitment of our scientists and research partners to advance understanding of MS progression through ongoing analyses of the Ocrevus Phase 3 clinical trials,ā Dr. Sandra Horning, the company's chief medical officer and head of its Global Product Development arm, said in a press release. Genentech, which is part of the Roche group, said the 18 presentations will represent the largest body of evidence ever presented on Ocrevus. The discussions will reinforce the therapy's favorable benefit-risk profile, Genentech added. Two presentations will cover new ways that doctors can look for signsĀ of disease activity that can lead to disability. One yardstick is calledĀ progression independent of relapse activity, or PIRA. AnotherĀ is tracking slowly evolving lesions. Genentech researchers came up with the approaches when they analyzed a subgroup of patients in the OPERA I and OPERA II Phase 3 clincal trials, whose aim was to evaluate Ocrevus as a treatment for relapsing MS. The patients' disease progressed even though they had no relapses, researchers said. The team will also discuss how Ocrevus affected these patients' disease. Another presentation will cover long-term follow-up data from an extension of the ORATORIO Phase 3 clinical trial (NCT01194570), which dealt with Ocrevus' ability to treat primary progressive MS. It will Ā look at how well Ocrevus slowed the progression of patients' disability. Updated information on Ocrevusā safety āĀ based on open-label extension studies āĀ will be another component of the presentations. So far, researchers have detected no new safety issues. Genentech will also discuss a new way of using conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify and track slowly evolving lesions. The company's scientists think that tracking the lesions may be a good way to measure chronic disease activity. This would contrast with tracking ordinary MS lesions, which are biomarkers of acute ā as opposed to chronic ā disease activity. In addition to "two new potential markers of underlying disease activity and their impact on disease progression, we hope to bring new tools to the MS community to better understand and manage the disease,ā Horning said. One tool, which Genentech has begun testing in clinical trials, is gathering patient information with sensors connected to a smartphone. Researchers are comparing the information obtained in the FLOODLIGHT study with what physicians record during patient visits. The research team believes the FLOODLIGHT method may beĀ be able to detect subtle changesĀ better. This could make it a better predictor of disease activity and long-term patient outcomes. In addition to the presentations, Genentech will sponsor two symposia at the meeting that will discuss how MS progresses, features of the chronic version of the disease, and the link between inflammation and the progression of MS. The U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationĀ approved Ocrevus in March 2017. Ā
October 4, 2017 News by Charles Moore #MSParis2017 – ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Congress on Latest Research, Treatments Starts Oct. 25 The 7th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting, the worldās largest annual international conference devoted to basic and clinical research in multiple sclerosis, will run from Oct. 25 to 28 in Paris ā the city of Jean-Martin Charcot, the “Father of Neurology,” who provided the first detailed description of multiple sclerosis (MS)…
September 7, 2017 News by Jose Marques Lopes, PhD #MSParis2017 – Gilenya Reduces Relapses in Children and Adolescents with MS, Novartis Trial Shows Gilenya decreased relapses in children and adolescents with multiple sclerosis in the phase 3 PARADIGMS trial, according to the therapy's developer, Novartis. The Swiss company will present the trial's results at the 7th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS meeting, set for Oct. 25-28 in Paris. The study addressed the safety and efficacy of an oral, once-daily dose of Gilenya in 215 MS patients aged 10 to 17. Participants received 0.5 mg or 0.25 mg of Gilenya, according to their body weight, and results were compared with those of intramuscular Avonex (interferon beta-1a given once weekly). The trial ā conducted at 87 sites in 25 countries ā was designed in partnership with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the International Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Study Group. Gilenya led to a "clinically meaningful decrease in the number of relapses" over a period of up to two years, compared to Avonex, according to the trial. The safety results of Gilenya matched those observed in previous trials, with adverse events more likely among the Avonex group. Importantly, the PARADIGMS trial is the first-ever randomized, controlled Phase 3 study of a disease-modifying therapy in pediatric MS. No treatment is currently available for children and adolescents with MS. Novartis will now complete a thorough evaluation of the results and later submit Gilenya for approval by regulatory agencies. It will also extend the study to a five-year period.
September 5, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD #MSParis2017 – TG Therapeutics to Discuss Ublituximab’s Effectiveness at ECTRIMSāACTRIMS Meeting in Paris TG Therapeutics will discuss ublituximab's ability to deplete B-cells linked to multiple sclerosis and to reduce inflammatory brain lesions at the 7th Joint ECTRIMSāACTRIMS Meeting in Paris next month. The three presentations will cover preliminary results of a Phase 2 clinical trial of ublituximab's safety and effectiveness as a treatment for relapsing forms of MS, the company said in a press release. The conference will be Oct. 25-28. Dr. Amy E. Lovett-Racke of Ohio State University will discuss ublituximab's ability to decrease B-cells associated with MS after six months of treatment. Ublituximab is an antibody that targets B-cells carrying the CD20 protein on their cell surfaces. These cells are thought to play a role in MS development. Dr. Matilde Inglese of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York will discuss ublituximab's ability to decrease study participants' inflammatory brain lesions. And Dr. Edward Fox of Central Texas Neurology Consultants, the trial's principal investigator, will do a poster-session presentation on the study's patient characteristics and preliminary results as a whole, including safety. The ongoing Phase 2 trial is still recruiting patients with relapsing forms of MS. Researchers are randomly assigning participants to receive intravenous infusions of either ublituximab or a placebo. One of the studyās primary goals is to see how well ublituximab depletes B-cells 28 days after the start of treatment. Another primary goal is to see how safe the therapy is, with the measurement being treatment-related adverse events that patients experience over six months. Ublituximabās ability to reduce relapses will be a secondary measure of the trial. Researchers will assess it after 48 weeks of treatment. Fox, who is the director of the Multiple Sclerosis Clinic of Central Texas, and a clinical assistant professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Round Rock, made a ublituximab presentation at the 3rd Congress of the European Academy of Neurology in June. It revealed that the therapy nearly depleted B-cells only four weeks after treatment started. Earlier data suggests that ublituximab can be administered in only one hour. Ocrevus, the only approved MS therapy that targets B-cells with CD20, requires 3 1/2 hours. Although the Phase 2 trial is continuing, the data generated so far supports plans for two Phase 3 trials, TG Therapeutics said. They will randomize patients to receive either ublituximab or Aubagio. The trials, which the company hopes to start by the end of September, will be conducted under a Special Protocol Assessment agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It allows the FDA to evaluate the design and population size of a trial a company intends to use to seek a drug's regulatory approval. The FDA has refused to approve therapies whose trial design it believed to be flawed. Obtaining a design sign-off before a trial improves the chance of a treatment being approved if it meets the study's objectives.
September 1, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD #MSParis2017 – MediciNova to Share Results of Ibudilast Trial in Progressive MS at October Summit MediciNova will present data from its clinical trial of ibudilast (MN-166) in progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) at the upcoming 7th Joint ECTRIMS – ACTRIMS Meeting in Paris. The European and American Committees for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS and ACTRIMS) selected the presentation “…
August 14, 2017 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Phase 1 Trial Recruitment Complete for Ataraās ATA188 T-cell Immunotherapy for Progressive MS Atara BiotherapeuticsĀ recently published anĀ updateĀ ofĀ the companyās quarterly financial results and operational highlights, including the advancement ofĀ itsĀ T-cell based immunotherapy strategies for multiple sclerosis (MS) and cancer. One of the investigational therapies featured in the report is ATA188, a potential treatment for MS.
September 29, 2016 Columns by Laura Kolaczkowski Thinking, Hands, and MS! ECTRIMS 2016 (European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS) produced lots of stories with exciting headlines about advances in MS research ā and hopefully you read many of them here at MS News Today. As I went through the various presentation titles, there were a couple that jumped…
September 26, 2016 Columns by admin MS Patient’s Pick of the Week’s News: Most Effective, Brain MRIs, Vit D3, Lipoic Acid, Modeling Hereās my Pick of this Weekās News, as published by Multiple Sclerosis News Today. This week is a rather special one because itĀ spotlights the work done by our news team in following and reporting the major events at ECTRIMS 2016. Here, I set out my choice of what I…
September 16, 2016 Columns by admin #ECTRIMS2016 ā Hereās my Pick of Friday’s Best at the Congress Friday carries on the ECTRIMS congressās style of so much going on that it must be difficult for delegates to decide which sessions to attend and which ones they can afford to miss.Ā Of course, not everyone can make the same choice but, having delved into the agenda, here…
August 18, 2016 News by Ćzge Ćzkaya, PhD Advances in MS Research and Treatment Focus of ECTRIMS 2016, Opening in September The 37th annual congress of The European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) will take place in London between 14 ā 17 September 2016.
February 16, 2016 News by Charles Moore MS Treatment and Research Forum, ACTRIMS, Kicks Off Thursday in New Orleans The first standalone forum held by the Madison, Wisconsin-based Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) gets underwayĀ Ā Thursday, Feb. 18, and runs through Feb. 20 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The forum, “Progressive MS: From Bench to Bedside and Back,” is at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans at…
October 23, 2015 News by Charles Moore Cannabis-Derived Sativex for MS-Related Spasticity Reported to Be Effective and Safe Barcelona, Spain-based, global pharma firm Almirall presented new clinical evidence at the 31st Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) ā held in Barcelona October 7ā10, 2015 ā supporting the efficacy of its Sativex product, currently the only pharmaceutical medicine derived from cannabinoids…
October 14, 2015 Social Clips by admin #Ocrelizumab – How Ocrelizumab Works Ocrelizumab, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, targets mature B-cells. Almost 95% of the B-cell population has these antigenic epitopes after maturation and does not shed them, which is what makes it a potent marker for therapeutic purposes (cancer being a very common area of interest in this regard). Read more…
October 9, 2015 News by Margarida Azevedo, MSc Promising Data on ZINBRYTA (Daclizumab High-Yield Process) Compared to Interferon Beta-1a in RRMS, ECTRIMS 2015 Lead scientists representing Biogen and AbbVie presented new data on clinical results from the Phase 3 study DECIDE on the compound ZINBRYTA TM at the 31st Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS (ECTRIMS) in Barcelona, Spain. The full results of the 2 to 3-year long…
October 9, 2015 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Biometrica MS Launched at ECTRIMS 2015 to Support Routine Multiple Sclerosis Care Biometrica MS, a technology that provides an easy to use service for neurologists to quantify lesion load as well as brain volume measures in clinical practice, is a web-based image analysis tool that was recently launched at the 31st Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple…
October 9, 2015 News by Malika Ammam, PhD Gilenya’s Clinical Trial Results Presented at ECTRIMS Reinforce Long-Term Efficacy Profile in RMS Patients On October 8, 2015, data on two Phase III clinical trials called FREEDOMS and FREEDOMS II on Gilenya (fingolimod), a drug developed byĀ Novartis, were presented at the 31st Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), currently being held in Barcelona, Spain (October 7-10).
October 9, 2015 News by Patricia Silva, PhD New 3-Times-Per-Week Regimen For Teva’s Copaxone Safe, Effective & Increases Patient Compliance #ECTRIMS2015 A Satellite Symposia entitled āDiscovering a new world in MSā presentedĀ by Teva Neuroscience was held yesterday, October 8 at the 31st Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS)Ā currently taking place in Barcelona, Spain, October 7 ā 10, 2015. Dr. Omar Khan from the…
October 9, 2015 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Discovering a New World in MS Through Genomics, ECTRIMS 2015 A Satellite Symposia entitled āDiscovering a new world in MSā supported by Teva Neuroscience was held yesterday, October 8, at the 31st Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), currently taking place in Barcelona, Spain, October 7 ā 10, 2015. Prof. David Brassat…
October 8, 2015 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD ECTRIMS Highlights Latest Developments in Multiple Sclerosis Research The 31st Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) is currently being held in Barcelona, from 7 to 10 of October, 2015. As the biggest scientific event focused on Multiple Sclerosis, researchers and clinicians from around the world, with more than 8,000 participants, gather…
October 8, 2015 News by Patricia Silva, PhD MS Care: A Hot Topic at #ECTRIMS2015 Three āHot Topic Sessionsā on multiple sclerosis will take place this afternoon (17:00 ā 17:45 h, GMT + 1h) at the 31st Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), currently being held in Barcelona, Spain, October 7 ā 10. The first session is entitled…
October 8, 2015 News by Malika Ammam, PhD Biomarkers and Predictors For Developing Future Personalized MS Therapies Discussed at ECTRIMS 2015 New developments in the diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) are being discussed at this year’sĀ 31st annual Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS). TheĀ symposium, being held in Barcelona, Spain, will fosterĀ discussions about development of individualized therapiesĀ forĀ MS patients throughĀ a more targeted and efficient…
October 8, 2015 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Aubagio (Teriflunomide) Slows Brain Atrophy in Patients with Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis GenzymeĀ recently announced results from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analysis of participants in the Phase III TEMSO clinical trial showing that AubagioĀ®Ā (teriflunomide) was able to slow the loss of brain volume (or atrophy) versus a placebo over two years in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS). Brain volume loss (BVL)…
October 8, 2015 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Biogen to Present Update on TECFIDERA (Dimethyl Fumarate) for Early Stage Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis at ECTRIMS 2015 Biogen is scheduled to present the latest efficacy and safety profile updates on TECFIDERA (dimethyl fumarate), its lead treatmentĀ forĀ relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), during theĀ 31st Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) happening now in Barcelona, Spain until October 10, 2015. The…