November 7, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: Stem Cell Transplant Versus DMTs, Treatment Efficacy, Cancer Risk, Employment Welcome to “MS News Notes,” where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. The articles in today’s column came from the annual Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), held Oct. 26ā28 in Amsterdam. Most…
November 7, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā ATA188 Could Be ‘Game Changing’ for Progressive MS In an early clinical trial, Atara Biotherapeuticsā investigational treatment ATA188 stabilized or eased disability in most people with nonactive, progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) ā with those benefits now having been sustained for up to four years. For MS patients, in whom disability progressively accumulates over time,…
November 4, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā 3-year Data Show Evobrutinib Safely Lowers Relapses Long-term use of the investigational BTK inhibitor evobrutinib among people with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) continues to maintain MS relapse rates, and keep MRI lesion activity low. That’s according to up to 3.5 years of data from a Phase 2 trial (NCT02975349) and its open-label…
November 4, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā Vumerity Lowers RRMS Activity Over 2 Years Up to two years ofĀ Vumerity (diroximel fumarate) treatment was generally well-tolerated and led to significant decreases in disease activity in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), according to a final analysis of data from the open-label EVOLVE-MS-1 Phase 3 clinical trial. Indirect comparisons of Vumerity-treated patients against those…
November 3, 2022 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā New Analyses Say Ublituximab Is Superior to Aubagio The experimental therapy ublituximab works better than the approved treatment Aubagio (teriflunomide) at easing disability independently of relapses, and at reducing overall disease activity, in adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Thatās according to exploratory analyses of pooled data from the identical ULTIMATE I…
November 3, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā Ocrevus Seems to Beat Rituximab in Reducing Relapses Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), an anti-CD20 therapy developed by Genentech, seems to be superior to rituximab at lowering relapse rates among patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), according to data from two large MS registries. Overall, the findings suggest that rituximab cannot be considered just as good as ā…
November 3, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā Job Prospects Can Slowly Take a Hit After CIS Diagnosis In the years after a diagnosis of clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) ā a first episode of neurological symptoms suggestive of multiple sclerosis (MS) ā the odds of maintaining employment progressively decrease, according to a recent study. The risk of decreasing or losing employment was particularly high among individuals…
November 2, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā DMTs Ease SPMS Disability Early but Not Over Time Early use of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) among people with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) may lead to overall lower levels of disability, according to a new analysis. But staying on treatment does not appear to significantly slow disability progression over time. People with SPMS who used DMTs early…
November 2, 2022 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā Analyses Weigh Stem Cell Transplant Versus DMTs Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplant (aHSCT) is superior to Gilenya (fingolimod) and Tysabri (natalizumab) at preventing relapses and reducing disability in people with highly active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). In turn, aHSCT appears to be as effective as Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) in RRMS patients and also was…
November 2, 2022 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā 2 Brain Lesion Types Linked to Greater Disability Recently diagnosed multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with two forms of chronic active brain lesions ā slowly expanding lesions (SELs) and paramagnetic rim lesions (PRLs) ā on their MRI scans experience greater disability progression than those with SELs only, a small study suggests. Also, the slowly expanding lesions are…
November 1, 2022 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā Tecfidera Lowers Risk of 1st Symptoms in RIS in Trial Treatment with Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) significantly reduces the risk of experiencing the first multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms in adults with radiologically isolated syndrome (RIS), according to data from a Phase 4 clinical trial. RIS is a condition in which patients have MS-like lesions on MRI scans, but…
November 1, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā High-efficacy DMTs Linked to Cervical Cancer Risk Exposure to high-efficacy disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) is associated with an increased risk of cervical abnormalities in women with multiple sclerosis (MS), recent data suggest. The findings are consistent with previous reports showing these treatments may raise the risk of certain cancers, likely as a consequence of their immune-modulating…
October 31, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News Notes: ECTRIMS, Ocrevus, Kesimpta, Epstein-Barr, DMTs Here are a few multiple sclerosis (MS) stories that caught my eye last week. Two of them came out of this year’s Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS). Ocrevus treatment More than 250,000 people with MS have been treated with the…
October 31, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā Genetic Variants Tied to Worse MS ID’d in New Study Genetic variants in genes mostly active in the brain and spinal cord ā the central nervous system ā are associated with the severity of multiple sclerosis (MS), and linked to a faster accrual of disability and greater signs of brain tissue damage, a new study found. Importantly, researchers estimated…
October 31, 2022 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā Relapse-free Progression Evident in Pediatric MS Disability progression in the absence of relapses is less common in children and adolescents with multiple sclerosis (MS) than among people with adult-onset disease, according to data covering more than 5,000 patients with relapsing forms of MS. Nevertheless, this form of progression ā called progression independent of relapse activity,…
October 31, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā ATA188 Still Easing Disability in Progressive MS Patients The investigational immunotherapy ATA188 continues to ease disability and prevent brain tissue shrinkage in people with progressive forms of multiple sclerosis, according to the data, now reachingĀ up to four years, on patients in an ongoing clinical trial. People who achieved confirmed disability improvement also showedĀ potentialĀ signs of remyelination, or…
October 28, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā Smartphone Tap Speed May Help in Monitoring MS Tap speed ā or how quickly one types on a smartphone keyboard ā may be a useful tool for monitoring multiple sclerosis (MS) severity and detecting the transition to a progressive form of the disease, according to new research data. Results demonstrated that slower tapping speeds were linked to…
October 28, 2022 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā Long-term Gilenya Reduces Pediatric Relapses Long-term treatment withĀ Gilenya (fingolimod) continues to be safe and lower the rate of relapses in children and adolescents with multiple sclerosis (MS) more than Avonex (interferon beta-1a) does. Thatās according to up to six years of data from the ongoing PARADIGMS Phase 3 trial (NCT01892722), wherein…
October 28, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā EBV Antibodies Precede Early Nerve Damage Signs An infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) consistently preceded elevations in neurofilament light chain (NfL), an early biomarker of nerve cell damage, in people who went on to develop multiple sclerosis (MS), new data show. An increase in NfL levels, which is thought to occur before the clinical…
October 27, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā Poor Myelin Repair Offers Clues in Disease Progression Remyelination, or regeneration of the myelin sheath that’s progressively damaged and lost in multiple sclerosis (MS), may be less effective for those who develop MS later in life, new research suggests. People with late-onset MS (LOMS) whose disease appears after age 50 have significantly fewer oligodendrocytes ā the…
October 27, 2022 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā Study Examines Ocrevus Use Before, During Pregnancy Treatment with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) before or during pregnancy does not seem to increase the risk of major pregnancy or infant complications, with 79% of the pregnancies leading to live births, according to data from more than 2,000 women with multiple sclerosisĀ (MS). The results were shared at the 38th…
October 26, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā Fertility Treatment Won’t Raise Relapse Risk for Women Fertility treatments do not significantly increase the risk of relapse in women with multiple sclerosis (MS), even among those who undergo treatment protocols associated with greater levels of hormone exposure, according to a recent U.S.-based analysis. Older age, a longer MS duration, and the use of MS disease-modifying…
October 26, 2022 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD #ECTRIMS2022 ā 2-year Ocrevus Effective for Early MS Patients: Data Nearly 80% of people with early-stage relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) show no evidence of disease activity after two years of treatment with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), according to updated data from the ENSEMBLE Phase 3b trial. More than 88% of the patients were negative for MRI activity, meaning they…
October 24, 2022 News by BioNews Staff MS News Today to Cover ECTRIMS 2022 Beginning Oct. 26 Multiple Sclerosis News Today is providing comprehensive coverage of the 38th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), taking place Oct. 26-28 in Amsterdam, as well as virtually. Each year, MS News Today brings the multiple sclerosis (MS) community highlights of the ECTRIMS…