News

A new assessment by a European regulatory agency failed to find fingolimod of added benefit to comparator therapies for people with highly active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) who have failed to respond to treatment with at least one other disease-modifying drug. Fingolimod (Gilenya), developed as a therapy for multiple sclerosis, has undergone three early benefit assessments since its…

Video games targeting cognitive abilities may improve brain function in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study found. Results, published in the journal Radiology, showed that these games strengthen connections between neurons in the thalamus, a brain region crucial for information processing. The findings also add to…

Andrea Perry Kaiser is a woman on a mission. The Long Beach, New York, resident is soon to undergo hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for her multiple sclerosis (MS). Kaiser contacted Multiple Sclerosis News Today to chronicle her journey, both before and following the treatment. She received a primary progressive multiple sclerosis…

To celebrate the many family, friends, healthcare professionals, and advocacy communities offering vital support to people living with multiple sclerosis (MS) day after day, MSWorld and Biogen have created the #MySupportHero program. The social media campaign runs through March, MS Awareness Month, to allow people with MS to thank all those who encourage and…

Researchers found that nerve cell connections in the brain, called synapses, were damaged in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS) through a process wholly unrelated to myelin destruction. As the damaged mice synapses studied were in regions crucial for memory processing, finding ways of protecting these neurons would be a crucial step toward developing a…

Children whose mothers were vitamin D deficient during the early stages of pregnancy are at an elevated risk for developing multiple sclerosis (MS) in adulthood, according to a study published in the journal JAMA Neurology, titled “Vitamin D Status During Pregnancy and Risk of Multiple…

Silvana L. Costa, PhD from the Kessler Foundation, was recently awarded a Switzer Research Fellowship by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). Dr. Costa is a Hearst Fellow in Neuropsychology & Neuroscience Research at Kessler, where she investigates cognitive deficits in multiple sclerosis (MS). The Merit Fellowship,…

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that a small clinical trial of a progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment was stopped early due to poor results. The trial was evaluating the drug rituximab for its efficacy in depleting harmful immune cells and decreasing nerve damage in these MS…

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) who also suffer from other autoimmune conditions, like thyroid disease or diabetes, have more severe brain damage than MS patients without comorbidities, according to a study from the University at Buffalo. The study was recently published in the American Journal of Neuroradiology. An earlier report from…

Two scientists at Northwestern University, Anne Marie Piper and Brenna Argall, recently received the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The work of Dr. Argall, in particular, might be relevant for people with disabilities caused by diseases such as multiple sclerosis or brain trauma resulting from accidents…

A new research study published online in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry suggests that drinking six cups of coffee a day could lower the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS). The researchers said the neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties of caffeine in coffee may explain why drinking a…

Genzyme, a specialty care unit of Sanofi, announced that TV and film actress Madeleine Stowe will host its new online series, “Take Action on MS,” focusing on people living with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS). Stowe, whose father had MS, works with Genzyme to educate people across the U.S. about daily life with the…

Children’s Health of North Texas has been designated  a Center for Comprehensive MS Care by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, making it the only pediatric healthcare system in the northern part of the state with such a recognition. The Comprehensive MS Care designation acknowledges an institution that delivers quality, full patient care in a…

March is Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Awareness Month, and the  Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA) will be marking it with a campaign to educate and heighten public awareness of the disease and the needs of the MS community. For this campaign, the MSAA will dedicate each week in March to a…

Ekaterina Dobryakova, PhD, was recently awarded a three-year grant worth $408,000 by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to study fatigue-influencing factors among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Dr. Dobryakova is a researcher in Traumatic Brain Injury Research at the Kessler Foundation, where she focuses on cognitive issues in…

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, working in the fruit fly model, identified an organic cation transporter, CarT (carcinine transporter), that is crucial to the recycling of histamine in the brain and the maintenance of healthy vision. Histamine is a neurotransmitter involved in chronic inflammation and pathogenesis in multiple…

A PhRMA report, titled “A Decade of Innovation in Chronic Diseases,” examined advances made in the treatment of several chronic health conditions, including multiple sclerosis (MS), over the past 10 years that have helped patients to avoid disease complications and hospitalizations, and improve their quality of life.

New long-term research indicates that having multiple children does not lessen or otherwise impact disability in women with multiple sclerosis (MS). The study, titled “Offspring Number Does Not Influence Reaching the Disability’s Milestones in Multiple Sclerosis: A Seven-Year Follow-Up Study,“ was published in The International Journal…

Researchers analyzing gait in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) using wearable inertial sensors have established two new and highly sensitive observer-independent measures of disability that strongly correlate with fatigue and patient-perceived health status. Their article, titled “Disability and Fatigue Can Be Objectively Measured in Multiple Sclerosis,” was published in the journal PLOS…

Montel Williams, a TV and radio talk show host and advocate for medical marijuana as a treatment for multiple sclerosis and other chronic illnesses, has joined the board of KIND Financial, a technology solutions company, as a key advisor in efforts to support and expand the drug’s use. “Montel Williams has become one…

Shift.ms, the U.K. social network dedicated to people with multiple sclerosis (MS), is testing a new tool designed to help people cope with the uncertainties and complex emotions that follow their diagnosis. The tool, called Thought Sort, is the first online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) specially designed for MS patients.

Researchers, working on an animal model and human cells, discovered a mechanism to halt autoimmune disease damage and developed of a novel class of drugs that triggers the mechanism, and which has the potential to treat autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) without impairing the normal and necessary activities of the…

A researcher has identified two drugs that may be used to reverse peripheral nerve damage, also referred to as peripheral neuropathy, resulting from diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) and diabetes, the use of chemotherapy in the treatment of some cancers, or traumatic injuries. The researcher, Sandra Rieger, PhD, is an assistant professor…

Biogen is launching an initiative developed with the assistance of clinical experts — the 1MSg campaign — to educate and encourage multiple sclerosis (MS) patients to make disease management decisions that are well-informed and based on the latest scientific research. The campaign’s motto is “Take control, known your choices,” and one of its main…

Celgene Corporation announced the results from an extension study of the RADIANCE Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating ozanimod in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS). The results were also presented at the recent Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) Forum 2016 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ozanimod is a small…

Researchers identified the chloride-channel protein anoctamin 2 (ANO2) as a new target for autoantibody production in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Their study, “Anoctamin 2 identified as an autoimmune target in multiple sclerosis,” was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Sates of…

In an innovative research project funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Dr. Anne Astier from the University of Edinburgh, U.K., and her team will use zebrafish to track the CD46 protein and determine where and how it affects the movement of immune cells into the brain, a process believed to influence…

Wearable robotic exoskeletons may soon help people with advanced multiple sclerosis (MS) walk more efficiently and confidently again. Exoskeleton technology reduces the amount of energy and muscle exertion needed to initiate and control the process of walking, according to research presented last week at the Association for Academic Physiatrists (AAP)…

Researchers at the University of Northampton’s Radon and Natural Radioactivity Research Group (RNRRG) developed a methodology to study whether radon gas, an invisible and radioactive gas known to cause lung cancer, might be a contributing factor in multiple sclerosis. They concluded that the link between the two was weak and not statistically significant.

Dr. Andrew Goodman of the University of Rochester discussed the latest research and perspectives on stem cell strategies for people with multiple sclerosis (MS), saying in a presentation at the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) Forum 2016 that such therapies, while promising, are not yet ready for widespread clinical use. New therapies…