MS News that Caught My Eye Last Week: Mavenclad Analysis, Ocrevus and Vaccines, an MS Rehab Technique, a Cattle Toxin and MS

Mavenclad Effective in Treating Highly Active MS, New CLARITY Analysis Shows

Mavenclad isn’t approved for use in the U.S. but it is approved in Canada, Europe, and other parts of the world. Here’s another positive study of the therapy. Hopefully, it won’t be much longer before Americans can also benefit from it.

An additional analysis of data from the CLARITY study confirmed the long-term benefits of treatment with Mavenclad (cladribine tablets) for patients with highly active relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS).

The post-hoc analysis, “Efficacy of Cladribine Tablets in high disease activity subgroups of patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis: A post hoc analysis of the CLARITY study,” was published in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal.

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#AAN2018 — Ocrevus Lowers Immune Response to Vaccines in Relapsing MS, Phase 3 Trial Shows

If you’re being treated with Ocrevus, it probably would be a good idea for you to have a chat with your neurologist if you’re planning to get some vaccinations, specifically tetanus, pneumonia, or flu. According to this study, Ocrevus treatment lowers the effectiveness of all three of those vaccines.

Treatment with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) is linked to a reduced immune response to vaccinations in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a Phase 3 trial.

These results were recently presented at the 2018 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, in a presentation titled, “Effect of Ocrelizumab on Vaccine Responses in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis.”

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Rehabilitation Technique Improves Limb Movement in MS Patients, Phase 2 Trial Shows

This is a therapy that’s been used to improve limb use in patients who have had a stroke, a traumatic brain injury, or have cerebral palsy. This study suggests it also might be useful for people with MS. The technique involves restraining the stronger arm or leg so that the weaker one is forced to become stronger. The lead researcher calls the results “momentous.”

Constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT), a rehabilitation technique originally developed for stroke patients, may also be effective in improving limb use in the daily activities of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, results from a Phase 2 trial show.

Findings were reported in the study, “Phase II Randomized Controlled Trial of Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy in Multiple Sclerosis. Part 1: Effects on Real-World Function,” published in the journal Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair.

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Livestock Disease Toxin May Lead to Development of MS, Study Suggests

Here’s something else that may have an impact on whether someone will develop MS. It’s a toxin found in soil that can seriously sicken sheep, goats, and cattle. As with most early studies, however, more research is needed.

Exposure to epsilon toxin (ETX), which is mainly found in livestock, could be linked to the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), new research suggests.

The study, “Evidence of Clostridium perfringens epsilon toxin associated with multiple sclerosis,” appeared in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal.

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