News

Medications account for the majority of costs related to managing multiple sclerosis (MS) in Italy, and secondary-progressive MS (SPMS) is associated with higher treatment and healthcare costs than those for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a study looking at real-world data reported. “A bigger healthcare resource consumption was retrieved for…

Scientists have identified a number of antibodies that can bind to the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) — a major risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS) — and prevent its infection of human cells. The antibodies might offer new approaches to treat or prevent infection in groups of people most…

Timing doses of rituximab by measuring B-cell counts is a more tailored approach to treatment, and it effectively reduces relapses and disability progression in multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a small study in patients with active disease. This tailored approach allowed patients to receive less frequent doses if their B-cell counts…

Dietary interventions may help ease fatigue and improve quality of life in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), although it doesn’t seem to impact disability progression, according to a new analysis. Researchers emphasized that it’s difficult to draw solid conclusions about the impact of diet in MS because there haven’t…

The severity of sexual dysfunction doesn’t seem to be associated with MRI measures of disease activity in multiple sclerosis (MS), but it was significantly linked with depression, anxiety, and fatigue, a small study found. The findings highlight the complex nature of sexual dysfunction in MS and “underscore the importance…

Tiziana Life Sciences plans to request a meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) later this year to discuss the upcoming Phase 2 clinical trial of foralumab nasal spray in people with nonactive secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). FDA feedback on the design of the…

An upcoming observational clinical trial will assess how adherence to treatment with the portable neuromodulation stimulator (PoNS) device, used in the clinic and later at home, improves gait in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Sponsored by Helius Medical Technologies, the device’s developer, the open-label Therapeutic…

Worse disability scores in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with restless legs syndrome (RLS) were significantly associated with the thinning of a retinal layer in the eye in a new study.  Overall, the study found that people with MS who experience RLS exhibit more severe disability than those…

Measuring how lesions get bigger over time in multiple sclerosis (MS) can predict long-term disability progression more accurately than other lesion-based assessments, a new study reports. “Enlargement of T2 [total] lesions, and specifically of its volume, … is more strongly associated with long-term disability progression compared to other…

In this installment of our “Expert Voices” series, Multiple Sclerosis News Today asked Brandon Beaber, MD, to answer some of your questions about research into the causes of multiple sclerosis (MS). Beaber is a board-certified neurologist and MS specialist. He makes videos about MS on YouTube and…

Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with minimal to moderate disability live about 30 additional years after their diagnosis, but life expectancy steadily decreases as patients reach more advanced levels of disability, a new study suggests. For example, average life expectancy drops to just over a decade when patients become unable to…

With an overarching goal of improving patients’ health and life quality, Saint Louis University (SLU) has opened an institute for neuroscience researchers working in a variety of fields to study disorders of the central nervous system, including multiple sclerosis (MS). The Institute for Translational Neuroscience (ITN), an outgrowth of the…

A group of four patients have entered a special program where they’ll gain access to foralumab nasal spray, an experimental therapy that’s being tested for non-active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). This is the first group of four who entered Tiziana Life Sciences’ intermediate-size expanded access program.

A National Multiple Sclerosis Society grant is supporting an Australian-led research team aiming to better understand how the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) may be acting as a trigger for multiple sclerosis (MS). The funding will particularly be used to understand what molecules are being targeted by lymphocytes, immune cells that…

In an early clinical trial, Atara Biotherapeutics’ investigational treatment ATA188 stabilized or eased disability in most people with nonactive, progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) — with those benefits now having been sustained for up to four years. For MS patients, in whom disability progressively accumulates over time,…

Octave announced the commercial availability of a multiple sclerosis (MS) care program that examines various facets of a person’s disease to help determine the best course of treatment and management that’s tailored to an individual. The program, called MS Precision Care Solution, combines blood biomarker…

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…

Up to two years of 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…

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). That’s according to exploratory analyses of pooled data from the identical ULTIMATE I…

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 —…

In the years after a diagnosis of clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) — a first episode of neurological symptoms suggestive of multiple sclerosis (MS) — the odds of maintaining employment progressively decrease, according to a recent study. The risk of decreasing or losing employment was particularly high among individuals…

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…

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…

Recently diagnosed multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with two forms of chronic active brain lesions — slowly expanding lesions (SELs) and paramagnetic rim lesions (PRLs) — on their MRI scans experience greater disability progression than those with SELs only, a small study suggests. Also, the slowly expanding lesions are…

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…

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…

Genetic variants in genes mostly active in the brain and spinal cord — the central nervous system — 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…

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 — called progression independent of relapse activity,…

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 reaching up to four years, on patients in an ongoing clinical trial. People who achieved confirmed disability improvement also showed potential signs of remyelination, or…

Tap speed — or how quickly one types on a smartphone keyboard — 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…