A team of scientists at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School are looking to establish best practices for managing multiple sclerosis (MS) in older adults, citing a relative lack of of research on the disease in people older than 50. Led by Leorah Freeman, MD, PhD,…
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Researchers have developed a set of criteria to diagnose optic neuritis (ON) — inflammation in the nerve fibers sending signals to and from the eye — and identify whether it is caused by multiple sclerosis (MS) or other conditions. The criteria, developed by an international group of specialists,…
Lapix Therapeutics has met with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to determine how to advance its investigational treatment candidate LPX-TI641 into clinical trials for autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). The pre-investigational new drug (pre-IND) meeting is usually the first formal one companies seeking to…
The signaling protein fractalkine was found to promote the repair of myelin — the protecting coating around nerve fibers — that is damaged by the mistaken immune attack that leads to multiple sclerosis (MS), a mouse study demonstrated. In an animal model of the disease, the molecule…
TG Therapeutics’ Briumvi (ublituximab-xiiy), a CD20 inhibitor recently approved for adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), is now commercially available in the U.S., the company announced. The treatment was approved in the U.S. late last year, with indications that include clinically isolated syndrome, relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS),…
Patient dosing has begun in a Phase 2 trial testing Denali Therapeutics‘ investigational oral RIPK1 inhibitor SAR443820 in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The clinical trial (NCT05630547) seeks to enroll about 168 patients, age 18–60, with either relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), active and nonactive secondary progressive…
Teenagers with poor sleep quality or insufficient sleep — those who sleep less than seven hours a night — are 40% to 50% more likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS) later in life than those who get adequate rest, according to a Swedish population-based study. Differences in sleep timing…
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…
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…
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 — a…
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…
The tiny sacs of cellular content that are released by oligodendrocytes — the myelin-producing cells of the brain and spinal cord — 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…
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…
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 1.3–2.3 times higher prevalence of depression, and about a 1.2 times higher rate of anxiety.
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…
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…
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…
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 disease is estimated to affect between 0.2% and 0.7% of people in the…
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 with multiple sclerosis (MS). The trial will not involve patients and is designed to investigate the safety and tolerability of…
People with 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…
Within the first 12 years after the onset of symptoms, about one-fourth of people with clinically isolated syndrome — or a first episode of multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms — showed a worsening of disability independent of relapses, a study reports. This type of disease progression, called progression independent…
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…
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…
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…
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, “Resveratrol-loaded macrophage exosomes alleviate multiple sclerosis through targeting microglia,” was published in the…
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 — a brain region involved in…
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,…
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…
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…
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, “…