MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: AHSCT for SPMS, Rituximab, Sativex, Smoking

This week’s column focuses on stories from Multiple Sclerosis News Today reporters who have been following the annual Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis, or ECTRIMS.

#ECTRIMS2021 – Stem Cell Transplant May Better Treat SPMS Than DMTs

This presentation involves autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplants (AHSCT), which basically entail a full reset of the body’s immune system by washing out blood cells that may be responsible for MS and replacing them with fresh cells from a patient’s own bone marrow. Several previous studies have suggested that AHSCT is effective at treating relapsing MS, but studies involving people with secondary progressive MS (SPMS) have been lacking. After about five years of AHSCT treatment, people with SPMS in this study showed a significantly slower disease progression compared with those treated with disease-modifying therapies.

AHSCT is approved in several countries, but is still considered experimental in the U.S. What are we waiting for?

A patient-derived stem cell transplant is more effective than available disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) at slowing disease progression in people with active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS), according to a real-life study in Italy.

Data highlight the potential benefits of this therapeutic approach in SPMS patients, and support its further evaluation in future, appropriately controlled clinical trials, the researchers noted.

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Recommended Reading

August 20, 2021 News by Margarida Maia, PhD

Barriers Limit Sativex Access for Patients With Spasticity in UK

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#ECTRIMS2021 — Rituximab as First RRMS Therapy Outperforms Others

What’s particularly interesting to me about this study is that rituximab is not an approved MS therapy in the U.S. It’s a cancer treatment prescribed off-label for MS patients. I wonder why it’s never received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

People with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) who are first treated with rituximab are less likely to have disease relapses and brain lesions as compared with patients on other therapies, according to new data from the COMBAT-MS clinical trial.

“Direct comparisons across multiple disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for [RRMS] are valuable in clinical decision making. … In treatment-naïve patients, [rituximab] was associated with the lowest risk of relapses and MRI lesions, and by far the lowest probability of switching to a second therapy,” researchers wrote in a poster on the trial, presented at the virtual 37th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS).

“These findings underscore the importance of tracking long-term outcomes from first DMT start,” the researchers wrote.

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#ECTRIMS2021 – Sativex Eases MS Patients’ Spasticity, Spasms in Trials

In these results, one study reported a benefit of Sativex compared with a placebo, while another reported no significant benefit. This mirrored what someone using it told me: that results were mixed for him. He said he saw “no spectacular improvements.” But he added that the spasticity in his right leg did decrease. I’d like to try this medication and judge for myself.

Sativex (nabiximols), an oral spray containing compounds found in the cannabis plant, can ease muscle spasticity (stiffness) and spasms (sudden, involuntary muscle contractions) in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), scientists report.

At the 37th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), taking place virtually Oct. 13-15, researchers with GW Pharmaceuticals — the company developing and helping to market Sativex — and other institutions shared new analyses of clinical trial data highlighting its effectiveness as an add-on therapy. …

Across all MAS subscales assessed, Sativex significantly eased spasticity compared to placebo in the SAVANT trial. In GWSP0604, the treatment trended toward easing spasticity, though none of the differences were significantly different from placebo.

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#ECTRIMS2021 – Quitting Smoking May Help Slow MS Progression

If you have MS and smoke, what more needs to be said to convince you to quit? It’s not too late. Snuff it now.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients who quit smoking show a slower rate of disease progression than those who continue to smoke, according to a large real-world study in the U.K.

Moreover, disease progression in former smokers was found to be comparable to that of people who had never smoked, highlighting the beneficial effect of smoking cessation in this patient population, according to researchers.

“When smokers quit, there is a slowing in the rate of motor disability deterioration so that it matches the rate of motor decline in those who have never smoked,” the researchers wrote.

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