August 20, 2018 News by Ana Pena PhD Hypertension and Heart Disease Linked to Increase in Brain Atrophy in Long-term Study High blood pressure and heart disease are linked to greater loss of brain mass, or atrophy in white matter and whole brain volume, in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a study following patients for five years shows. No association between cardiovascular disease and…
July 17, 2018 News by Ashraf Malhas, PhD Managing High Blood Pressure Important for Managing MS, Study Suggests An association between high blood pressure and reduction of brain integrity in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients highlights the importance of blood pressure management by MS healthcare providers. The severity of MS varies greatly. Although this is still poorly understood, certain factors, such as obesity and high blood pressure, are suspected…
April 26, 2018 News by Alice MelĆ£o, MSc #AAN2018 ā MS Progresses Quickly in African-Americans and May Warrant Aggressive Treatment Multiple sclerosis in African-Americans progresses much faster than in Caucasian patients, new research reports, suggesting that blacks would benefit from a more aggressive treatment approach. Led by researchers at Johns Hopkins UniversityĀ and presented at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) annual meeting taking place in Los Angeles through…
April 20, 2018 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD #AAN2018 – Switching from Rebif to Ocrevus Improves MS, Extension Study Shows Continuous treatment with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) or switching from Rebif (interferon beta-1a)Ā to Ocrevus leads to aĀ significant long-term reduction in relapsing multiple sclerosis activity, a two-year extension study shows. Ocrevus’s maker, Genentech,Ā drew the results from anĀ open-label extension of the Phase 3 OPERA trials. Researchers will present the findings at…
April 19, 2018 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD #AAN2018 ā Investigational Therapy Ibudilast Slows Brain Atrophy in Phase 2 Trial for Progressive MS Investigational therapyĀ ibudilastĀ leads to a significant reduction of brain atrophy, supporting its potential to effectively treat progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), new data from a Phase 2 clinical trial show. These results will be shared at the upcoming 2018 Annual MeetingĀ of theĀ American…
March 29, 2018 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD GeNeuro-Servier Antibody Limits RRMS Patients’ Brain Shrinkage, Phase 2b Trial Shows The laboratory-generated antibodyĀ GNbAC1Ā continued to limitĀ brain shrinkage a year after relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients began receiving it, its developers announced. GeNeuro and ServierĀ were reporting on the 12-month results of aĀ Phase 2b clinical trial. GNbAC1 is a monoclonal antibody that destroys a harmful retroviral protein called pHERV-W which scientists have…
February 2, 2018 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD #ACTRIMS2018 ā MediciNova Presents Positive Results from SPRINT-MS Trial Evaluating Ibudilast in Progressive MS Top-line results from a clinical trial evaluating the investigational oral therapy ibudilast for progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) show that the therapy led to a significant reduction of brain atrophy in patients when compared to controls. Robert Naismith, MD, one of the study’s principal researchers fromĀ Washington University in St. Louis,…
January 19, 2018 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Loss of Deep Grey Matter in Brain Linked to Greater Disability, MS Progression in Study Deep grey matter volume loss in the brain drives multiple sclerosis (MS) progression and disability, and is particularly evident in people with progressive forms of the disease, a retrospective multi-center study suggests. The study āDeep grey matter volume loss drives disability worsening in multiple sclerosisā was published in…
October 30, 2017 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD #MSParis2017 – Ibudilast Slows Loss of Brain Tissue in MS Patients, Phase 2 Trial Shows The Japanese companyĀ MediciNova‘s anti-inflammatory agentĀ ibudilast slows multiple sclerosis patients’ brain shrinkage and their loss of the protective myelin coating around nerve cells, a Phase 2 clinical trial shows. Robert J. Fox of Ohio’s Cleveland Clinic Neurological InstituteĀ presented the results at theĀ 7th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS MeetingĀ in Paris, Oct. 25-28.
July 6, 2017 News by Janet Stewart, MSc Lipoic Acid, an Over-the-counter Antioxidant, Seen to Slow Brain Atrophy in SPMS Patients The over-the-counter antioxidant lipoic acid slowed brain deterioration in patients withĀ secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS), according to a pilot study. AnĀ Oregon Health & Science UniversityĀ research team conducted the study,Ā “Lipoic acid in secondary progressive MS.” It wasĀ published in the journal Neuroimmunology and Neuroinflammation. A hallmark…
December 15, 2016 News by Joana Fernandes, PhD Brain Atrophy inĀ Secondary Progressive MS Linked in Study to High Levels ofĀ Free Hemoglobin inĀ Blood Hemoglobin leaking from injured red blood cells may be associated with brain atrophyĀ in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS), according to researchers at the Imperial College London, U.K. The study, āFree Serum Haemoglobin Is Associated With Brain Atrophy In Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis,ā was published in the journal Wellcome…
July 8, 2016 News by InĆŖs Martins, PhD Brain Atrophy in MS Patients May Soon Be More Easily and Routinely Examined Detecting brain atrophy in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients requires high quality scans, tooĀ expensive and complicated for routine clinical use. But this may change with a new software that simplifies the calculation of brain atrophy based on data from routine magnetic resonance images (MRI). The new toolĀ and its benefits wereĀ recently described…
March 21, 2016 News by Patricia Silva, PhD CONy16: Should RRMS Disease-Modifying Drugs Be Used to Treat Secondary Progressive MS? A majorĀ dilemma facing clinicians is whether to continue treatment withĀ disease-modifying drugs, effective in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), as the disease progresses to secondary progressive MS (SPMS). In SPMS, Ā these treatments seem to lose their benefits and ā as they areĀ often associated with severe side effects and high costs ā clinicians…