News

Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) had similar benefits in Black and Hispanic multiple sclerosis (MS) patients as earlier clinical trials with white patients did, one-year data from the CHIMES clinical trial indicates. About half of the CHIMES participants achieved no evidence of disease activity, or NEDA, which is defined as the…

Undergoing fertility treatment with assistive reproductive technologies does not increase the likelihood of having a relapse for women with multiple sclerosis (MS) who are taking a disease-modifying therapy (DMT), according to a new analysis. “The results are reassurance for women with MS who plan to undergo assistive reproductive…

High blood levels of the nerve damage biomarker neurofilament light chain (NfL) significantly increased the risk of people with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) converting to definite multiple sclerosis (MS), according to an analysis of clinical trial data. CIS patients with higher NfL levels also made the transition earlier…

When presented with medical information authored by neurologists or by ChatGPT, people with multiple sclerosis (MS) reported similar satisfaction with both, but said the artificial intelligence platform was more empathetic. That’s the result of the study, “ChatGPT vs. neurologists: a cross-sectional study investigating preference, satisfaction ratings…

The risk of having a stroke, that is, a blockage in blood flow to the brain that can cause lasting damage, is about 2.5 times higher in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) than the general population, a review of multiple studies finds. The researchers called for further studies to…

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) in England had a seven times greater risk of hospitalization and a fourfold increased risk of death from COVID-19 in 2022 than did the general population, according to a study of almost 12 million people in the European nation. The elevated risk of both…

A team of Kessler Foundation researchers has been granted more than $700,000 by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society for work that seeks to better understand the brain networks associated with primary fatigue in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The grant, totaling $722,602, was awarded to Glenn Wylie, PhD,…

A globally recognized neurologist and scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has won the 2024 John Dystel Prize for Multiple Sclerosis Research for her work to improve women’s care through a better understanding of the mechanisms behind sex differences in multiple sclerosis (MS). Rhonda Voskuhl,…

Erectile dysfunction is more likely to occur among men with multiple sclerosis (MS) whose disease is more severe, according to a study, which noted that the ability to contract the cremaster muscle, which controls the position of the testicles, was linked with a decreased likelihood of erectile dysfunction in…

A clinical trial testing SpineX‘s Scone neuromodulation device for treating a neurogenic, or overactive, bladder, a common symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS), has finished enrolling patients. Called CONTINENCE (NCT05301335), the study enrolled adults with overactive bladder due to MS, stroke, or spinal cord injury at…

A stem cell transplant effectively reduced the abnormal immune response that drives multiple sclerosis (MS) progression by altering a specific group of immune cells called myeloid cells, a mouse study showed. Treatment with a compound that suppressed a receptor called CSF1R improved the transplantation efficiency of myeloid cells…

Scientists have created an assay that can measure immune cells’ inflammatory attack against the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a known risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS). Researchers found preliminary evidence that some MS treatments, but not others, may alter the immune system’s response to EBV. The scientists said the…

Researchers have identified three distinct immune signatures in the blood of people with early multiple sclerosis (MS) that seem to be linked to specific disease trajectories and response to treatment, potentially offering a path to personalized care. “These findings represent a pivotal shift towards precision medicine in MS,” Heinz Wiendl,…

The prescribing label for Mavenclad (cladribine) in Great Britain has been extended to include the treatment of adults with active relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), as defined by clinical or imaging features. This decision made the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) the first to…

Older adults with multiple sclerosis (MS) whose eating habits resemble a Mediterranean diet tend to have less disability and better quality of life, a study found. The findings suggest the Mediterranean diet is a “promising nutritional intervention to slow down disease progression of MS and to minimize disease-related symptoms…

The use of obesity medications — approved drugs for treating diabetes and promoting weight loss — is associated with a reduced chance of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to real-world data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a study found. In particular, medicines that activate a receptor…

Renowned experts in multiple sclerosis (MS) healthcare, research, and advocacy will again gather at the annual meeting of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC), slated this year for May 29 to June 1. The event, now in its 38th edition, will return to the Music City Center, in Nashville,…

An inverse vaccine developed by Nykode Therapeutics to boost immune system tolerance to a specific protein target was able to prevent the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) in a mouse model of the disease. The vaccine, known as a Vaccibody, is designed to teach the immune system to…

Helius Medical Technologies is collaborating with Lovell Government Services to make its PoNS device — designed to improve walking ability in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) — available to U.S. veterans and MS patients in other federal healthcare systems. The PoNS device, officially named the Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator, is…

The Swank and Wahls diets, which are used by people with multiple sclerosis (MS), were associated with improvements in cognition and fatty acid blood profiles in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients, according to new analyses from the WAVES trial. Changes in omega-3 fatty acids after about three months correlated…

Kyverna Therapeutics‘ cell-based therapy KYV-101 had an acceptable safety profile and promising treatment effects when given to two people with hard-to-treat progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a case study. “We are very pleased about offering this potentially paradigm-shifting treatment opportunity to patients that have exhausted other medical…

FSD Pharma has entered an agreement to launch a Phase 1 clinical trial that will test multiple ascending doses of Lucid-21-302 — an oral treatment candidate commonly known as Lucid-MS, for all types of multiple sclerosis (MS) — in healthy volunteers. The company’s subsidiary Huge Biopharma Australia established…

People who start treatment with Tysabri (natalizumab) soon after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) are at a lower risk of relapse in the long term compared with patients who start on less effective disease-modifying therapies (DMT), a study has found. Patients on Tysabri, an antibody-based therapy,…

Obesity in childhood is associated with a more than double the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) in adulthood, although the overall risk is low, according to a new study. “Our study adds to the evidence that obesity in early life increases the risk for a plethora of diseases…

The French company Juvisé Pharmaceuticals has acquired the rights to develop and market the approved multiple sclerosis (MS) therapy Ponvory (ponesimod) outside the U.S. and Canada. The global rights were acquired from Actelion Pharmaceuticals, the therapy’s original developer and now part of Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients diagnosed in more recent years — specifically after 2017 — were more likely to start sooner on a first MS disease-modifying therapy (DMT) than were those diagnosed between 2014 and 2016, an analysis of data from three large MS registries found. However, starting with…

High-efficacy therapies given early can significantly reduce the risk of disability worsening in children and adolescents with multiple sclerosis (MS), particularly when treatment is started while patients have fairly minimal disability, according to a new study. While lower-efficacy therapies were also associated with a reduced risk of disability progression…

Low levels of the estrogen hormone estradiol may be linked to worse brain damage, a new study found, offering a possible explanation as to why multiple sclerosis (MS) often progresses more rapidly in women during menopause, when levels of that sex hormone drop. However, the use of hormone…

Getting the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine to protect against tuberculosis (TB) or having latent (inactive) TB in young adulthood aren’t linked to the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), a Norwegian study found. The study, “BCG vaccination and multiple sclerosis risk: A Norwegian cohort study,” was published in…

Measurements from smartphones and wearable devices like smartwatches can reliably provide clinically meaningful data to monitor multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study from Switzerland reports. While daily data from such devices did not prove sufficiently reliable in this small study, information generated weekly — across more than 45 different…