Columns The MS Wire - A Column by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Global MS Numbers, Pregnancy and MS, ANK-700 MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Global MS Numbers, Pregnancy and MS, ANK-700 by Ed Tobias | September 28, 2020 Share this article: Share article via email Copy article link MS Prevalence at Over 2.8 Million Worldwide, Update to Atlas Reports With almost 3 million of us around the world, we’re not really rare, but we’re rare enough that our MS is still a puzzle to many. People seem to know what muscular dystrophy is (probably because of the annual telethon in past years), and they know about cancer and heart disease. Why don’t they know about MS? We need to do more to promote MS awareness, wouldn’t you agree? More than 2.8 million people worldwide are now estimated to be living with multiple sclerosis (MS), including about 1 million in the United States, an update to the Atlas of MS reports. An increase since its previous update, this number translates to someone, somewhere in the world, being newly diagnosed with the disease every five minutes, the National MS Society announced in a press release on the update. Click here to read the full story. *** Pregnancy Delays Likely MS Onset by About 3 Years, Large Study Finds How MS affects pregnancy is a question I see asked regularly in social media groups. This study may help to partially answer that question. It reports that pregnancy may delay the onset of MS symptoms. Other studies have reported that a woman has fewer relapses while pregnant. After a pregnancy or childbirth, most women who went on to develop clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) did so about three years later than those who were never pregnant, a large and multicenter study reported. Multiple pregnancies or births, however, were not seen to further affect CIS onset. Click here to read the full story. *** Anokion Planning Launch of Phase 1 Trial of Investigational MS Therapy ANK-700 We know that with MS, our immune system attacks parts of our body that it shouldn’t attack. This investigational medication is designed to “reeducate” the immune system of people with MS so that it understands it shouldn’t attack healthy cells. Those at the company Anokion hope to begin a Phase 1 trial at several locations by the end of the year. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted an investigational new drug application (IND) for ANK-700, a treatment candidate for multiple sclerosis (MS) that is being developed by the Swiss company Anokion. With this approval, Anokion can enter clinical testing and is planning to initiate a multicenter, Phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate ANK-700 in people with MS by the end of the year. Click here to read the full story. *** Note: Multiple Sclerosis News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Multiple Sclerosis News Today or its parent company, BioNews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to multiple sclerosis. Print This Page About the Author Ed Tobias People say to write what you know and Ed Tobias knows about MS. He's lived with the illness since 1980, when he was 32 years old. Ed's a retired, award-winning broadcast journalist and his column combines his four decades of MS experiences with news and comments about the latest in the MS community. In addition to writing his column, Ed is one of the patient moderators on the MS News Today Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram sites. He’s also the author of “The Multiple Sclerosis Toolbox: Hints and Tips for Living with M.S.” Ed and his wife split their time between the Washington, D.C. suburbs and Florida’s Gulf Coast, trying to follow the sun. Tags ANK-700, clinical trial, pregnancy Comments Leave a comment Fill in the required fields to post. Your email address will not be published. Your Name Your Email Your Comment Post Comment
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