January 25, 2023 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Fewer Women With MS Choosing to Stop DMT Use While Pregnant The use of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) by pregnant women with multiple sclerosis (MS) significantly increased over the last decade or so, and fewer of them are stopping treatment before giving birth, a single-center study in Italy reported. While most patients (95.1%) discontinued a DMT while pregnant between 2005…
January 25, 2023 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD Ocrevus Limits Progression Equally in Black, White People With RRMS Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) seems to be equally effective at stabilizing disease activity in Black and white patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a U.S. study found. Disability levels and MRI disease markers remained generally unchanged over the two-year study in both groups, despite Black patients having more severe disability…
January 24, 2023 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Better Standards Needed for NICE Evaluation of MS Treatments: Study In evaluating potential treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS) over the past two decades, England’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) made differing assumptions about whether and how the therapies’ effects will diminish over time. Such assumptions have a significant impact in estimating a therapy’s cost-effectiveness ā a…
January 24, 2023 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Scientists Seek to Understand Effects of Pregnancy on Immune System Roche has teamed up with researchers in Australia to study the immune and biological mechanisms leading to better outcomes for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients who are or have been pregnant. The four-year project, led by Vilija Jokubaitis, PhD, a neuroscientist and group leader at Monash University, is expected…
January 23, 2023 News by Andrea Lobo, PhD Key Myelin Protein Shows Promise as Biomarker for MS The tiny sacs of cellular content that are released by oligodendrocytes ā the myelin-producing cells of the brain and spinal cord ā may be good biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, a new study has found. The research showed that levels of myelin basic…
January 23, 2023 News by Mary Chapman NMSS Names New Jersey Facility Center for Comprehensive MS Care The National Multiple Sclerosis Society‘s (NMSS) Partners in MS Care program has designated the multiple sclerosis center at Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center as a Center for Comprehensive MS Care. With the designation, New Jersey now has two Comprehensive MS Care centers serving multiple sclerosis…
January 20, 2023 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD Smoking Linked to Depression and Anxiety in MS: Review Study Smoking tobacco products is associated with a higher prevalence of depression and anxiety among multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, according to a recent systematic review. Across the evaluated studies, current smoking was linked to a 1.3ā2.3 times higher prevalence of depression, and about a 1.2 times higher rate of anxiety.
January 20, 2023 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Brain Circuit Associated With MS-related Depression Identified Researchers have identified specific areas of brain damage associated with depression in multiple sclerosis (MS), but not with other symptoms of the disease. The findings could pave the way toward new treatments for MS-related depression that work to stimulate these regions. “The more we know about the connectivity of…
January 19, 2023 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD Tascenso ODT, a Gilenya Alternative, Wins New FDA Approval in MS The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Tascenso ODT, a bioequivalent formulation of the multiple sclerosis (MS) therapy Gilenya (fingolimod), at a higher patient dose, according to the pharmaceutical company that will market the treatment in the U.S. The newly approved therapy, which is delivered as…
January 19, 2023 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD 65% of Patients Discontinue Therapy Baclofen Within a Year in Study About 10%-20% of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) receive baclofen to control their spasticity, but up to half of patients stop the medication in the first six months, a large Swedish population-based study shows. The high rates of discontinuation suggest baclofen has “a low success rate of…
January 18, 2023 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Almost No Cases Found of Celiac Disease and MS in New Analysis Celiac disease, in which the ingestion of gluten causes the immune system to attack the lining of the small intestine, is not common in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a meta-analysis found. While the diet-caused autoimmune diseaseĀ is estimated to affect between 0.2% and 0.7% of people in the…
January 18, 2023 News by Marisa Wexler, MS FSD Asking to Open Trial of Lucid-MS, Myelin-protecting Therapy FSD Pharma has submitted an application to Health Canada asking to start a Phase 1 clinical trial of Lucid-MS, the company’s experimental and myelin-protective oral therapy for people withĀ multiple sclerosis (MS). The trial will not involve patients and is designed to investigate the safety and tolerability of…
January 17, 2023 News by Margarida Maia, PhD MS Relapse, Worse Disease More Likely for Smokers: New Study People withĀ relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) who are receiving oral disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) are still more likely to experience a relapse or any form of disease activity if they are smokers, a study found. Researchers also observed that former smokers had a disease…
January 17, 2023 News by Steve Bryson, PhD Early Progression Independent of Relapses Linked to Worse Disability Within the first 12 years after the onset of symptoms, about one-fourth of people with clinically isolated syndrome ā or a first episode of multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms ā showed a worsening of disability independent of relapses, a study reports. This type of disease progression, called progression independent…
January 16, 2023 News by Steve Bryson, PhD Use of Virtual Reality Physiotherapy in MS Found to Boost Adherence Uses of virtual reality-based physiotherapy to improve balance and gait in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) are linked to lower dropout rates than those found with conventional rehabilitation methods, a review of clinical trials suggested. Although the difference between the two physiotherapy approaches was not statistically significant, adherence to…
January 16, 2023 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD Therapeutic Target for Inflammation Driven by Astrocytes Seen Using a new approach, researchers have identified new signaling molecules that regulate the activation of certain subsets of astrocytes thought to drive inflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS). The new methodology, called FIND-seq, enables the selection of single cells from a sample based on the expression of specific genes and…
January 13, 2023 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Pheno, UCB Team Up to Bring New Remyelination Therapies to Trial Pheno Therapeutics has entered into an agreement with UCB to develop new therapies aimed at remyelination to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurological disorders that are characterized by the loss of myelin, the companies announced. “This license allows us to accelerate a promising drug target towards…
January 13, 2023 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Exosome-based Therapy Eases Disease in MS Mouse Model A new therapy that delivers an anti-inflammatory compound to nervous system immune cells via cellular “shipping containers” called exosomes showed promise in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS), a study reports. The study,Ā “Resveratrol-loaded macrophage exosomes alleviate multiple sclerosis through targeting microglia,” was published in the…
January 12, 2023 News by Joana Vindeirinho, PhD Benefits of Aerobic Exercise in MS Modulated by Specific Brain Region Aerobic training for up to three months significantly outperformed less-strenuous exercise at improving walking capacity among people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study reports. However, the benefits of aerobic exercise seem to be greater among patients without MS-related damage in the insula ā a brain region involved in…
January 12, 2023 News by Andrea Lobo, PhD Quanterix Poised to Launch Test That Monitors NfL Levels Quanterix Corporation‘s laboratory test designed to measure blood levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL) has been validated by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), an arm of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that regulates laboratory testing. The company now is planning to launch its laboratory developed test,…
January 11, 2023 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Neural Stem Cell Therapy for MS Tolerated Well in Small Phase 1 Study A treatment containing neural stem cells derived from a human fetus was shown to be well tolerated in a small clinical trial of people with progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Results showed some promising effects on markers of inflammation and brain atrophy. Researchers said these preliminary findings “warrant…
January 11, 2023 News by Hawken Miller Writer Recalls MS Odyssey While Living on the ‘Last Frontier’ The wing of the small aircraft dipped below the horizon, revealing a strip of sand in the middle of the Bering Sea. On one side, miles of ocean. On the other, a lagoon. It was 1995, and Melissa Cook, her husband Elgin, and their three small children were beginning an…
January 10, 2023 News by Marisa Wexler, MS COVID-19 Could Trigger MS Via ‘Molecular Mimicry,’ Study Shows A protein in the virus that causes COVID-19 is structurally similar to several proteins targeted by the immune system in multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study shows. The results provide a potential mechanism for how COVID-19 could trigger MS-like disease in susceptible individuals, researchers said. The study,Ā “…
January 10, 2023 News by Joana Vindeirinho, PhD Lifestyle Changes to Increase Physical Activity Improved MS Fatigue A behavioral intervention that teaches people with multiple sclerosis (MS) strategies for becoming physically active significantly improved patient-reported measures of fatigue over a year, but had no effect on other self-reported disease measures, according to new data from a Phase 3 trial. Earlier results had shown that the approach,…
January 9, 2023 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD Program Bringing PoNS Device to MS Patients at Lower Cost Extended Helius Medical Technologies has extended by six months a program that allows multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in the U.S. to access its Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator (PoNS) device at a reduced cost. The Patient Therapy Access Program (PTAP) partly subsidizes the cost of using PoNS ā an…
January 9, 2023 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Differences in Bacteria, Viruses in MS Patients’ Guts Seen in Study The amounts of more than 60 species of bacteria are altered in the gut in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) compared with those without the disease, a new study reports. Researchers also identified differences in the makeup of viruses that infect gut bacteria in patients, which they said may…
January 6, 2023 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Use of ‘Tattoo Gun’ Device Found to Greatly Reduce MS Severity in Mice Multiple tiny injections of myelin-related small proteins alongside suppressors of the activity of dendritic cells, done using a device akin to a tattoo gun, powerfully reduced the severity of multiple sclerosis (MS) in a mouse model of the disease. That’s according to new findings announced by Therapeutic Solutions…
January 6, 2023 News by Joana Vindeirinho, PhD TeraImmune, NIAID Partnership Extended to Boost Treg Therapies TeraImmune is extending its collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to continue developing regulatory T-cell-based therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseases. The extension will let the company continue optimize the manufacturing process for its lead regulatory T-cell (Treg) product in…
January 5, 2023 News by Marisa Wexler, MS How ‘Medical Gaslighting’ Affects Women With Chronic Illness: Study Women with chronic health conditions like multiple sclerosis (MS) often experience disbelief and disenfranchisement from healthcare providers when they seek care, a new study highlights. The study, “Womenās Experiences of Health-Related Communicative Disenfranchisement,” was published inĀ Health Communication. There is a long history of discrimination and…
January 5, 2023 News by Joana Vindeirinho, PhD PoNS Device Now Available Online to Patients in US People with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the U.S. now may order a Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator (PoNS) device online through a new e-commerce site launched by the deviceās developer, Helius Medical Technologies. The website, built in partnership with the telehealth company UpScript, marks the first time…