MS News That Caught My Eye: Young Patients Quit DMDs, Antioxidant to Slow Brain Decline, Interview with Top Ocrevus Doc, and Why Don’t I Smell That?

In case you missedĀ them, here are some news stories that appeared in MS News Today that caught my eye over the past week.
Younger MS Patients Who Are Hospitalized May Be at Higher Risk of Quitting Treatment, Study Reports
Why would young patients, whose MS is severe enough to require hospital treatment, be quitting their disease-modifying drugs (DMD)? I’d think that younger folks would be more likely to continue their DMDs than those of us who are getting up in age, not less. But asĀ
Ā reports, a large percentage of those who quit eventually return to using a DMD, though it’s often a different one. So, perhaps the “quitting” reported in this research is actually just a desire on the part of younger patients to move to a DMD they think might work better for them.MS patients who start treatment at a younger age, and whose condition requires hospitalization, are more likely to stop treatment, a Canadian study reports.
The research, published in the journal Dovepress,Ā dealt with the main reasons Canadian patients quit first-line injected disease-modifying therapies, or DMTs. ItĀ was titled,Ā āPersistence to disease-modifying therapies for multiple sclerosis in a Canadian cohort.ā
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Lipoic Acid, an Over-the-Counter Antioxidant, Seen to Slow Brain Atrophy in SPMS Patients
This study has made quite a splash on social media. It sure would be great if an antioxidant that’s easy to get and isn’t too expensive could slow brain atrophy.Ā
The over-the-counter antioxidant lipoic acid slowed brain deterioration in patients withĀ secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS), according to a pilot study.
AnĀ Oregon Health & Science UniversityĀ research team conducted the study,Ā āLipoic acid in secondary progressive MS.ā It wasĀ published in the journal Neuroimmunology and Neuroinflammation.
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New Ocrevus Findings Show Benefits to Range of MS Patients: Interview with Genentechās Dr. Hideki Garren
There are two statements in
‘s interview with Dr. Garren that jumped out at me, but they don’t appear until several paragraphs into the story. First, these new Ocrevus findings report that the drug is effective at slowing a decline in walking ability for both RRMS and PPMS patients. Second, Ocrevus appears to reduce disability progression, even in people who are rapidly going downhill. Be sure to read far enough into this story so that you get the details.GenentechĀ shared new insights into the workings of Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) and its effectiveness in reducing disease activity, and slowing progression in relapsing and primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) at the recentĀ 3rd Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN).
The new findings, previously reported here, built on analyses of information gathered during the three Phase 3 clinical trialsĀ assessing Ocrevusā safety and efficacy, as well as throughĀ monitoring patients in extension studies.
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Problems with Sense of Smell Are Worse in Primary Progressive MS Than Relapsing-Remitting Form, Study Reports
My wife smells a lot of things that I don’t. I never thought there was anything unusual about that. Her sniffer must just be more sensitive than mine. But I’ve read about people with MS who say they smell strange things, and now I see, as
Problems with sense of smell areĀ more frequent and severe in patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosisĀ (PPMS) than in those with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosisĀ (RRMS), a study reports.
The research, āOlfactory dysfunction in patients with primary progressive MS,ā was published in the journal Neurology: Neuroimmunology and Neuroinflammation.
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