Canada

Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in Canada are more likely to comply with their treatment plan and less likely to discontinue the use of the oral disease-modifying treatment Gilenya (fingolimod), compared to injectable or infusible treatment options, new research shows. The research article with that finding, “A…

Pendopharm’s Glatect (glatiramer acetate) — a treatment for patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) — has been added to the public drug plan in the Canadian province of British Columbia, and is now the only glatiramer-based treatment for RRMS patients there using the plan. After Copaxone…

Infections and complications from severe disability are the greatest contributors to mortality among multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, according to a population-based study in British Columbia, Canada, which also found that that MS is a more common underlying cause of death among younger patients. The study, “Causes that…

The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada and the Multiple Sclerosis Scientific Research Foundation have awarded a $410,000 grant to fund research based on a new method for treating cognitive dysfunction in patients with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). About 70% of progressive MS patients suffer from cognitive abnormalities that…

A&W Food Services of Canada, a chain of hamburger restaurants, in partnership with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, raised more than $1.9 million at its 10th annual “Burgers to Beat MS” campaign Aug. 16. This is the largest amount the campaign has raised. To celebrate Burgers to Beat MS campaign,…

Protecting the public against an outbreak like the swine flu using GlaxoSmithKline‘s vaccine Arepanrix — or a similar vaccine with an AS03 adjuvant delivery system — does not increase a risk of multiple sclerosis (MS), a population study conducted in Canada reports. The study, “Registry Cohort Study to Determine Risk…

Girls given the quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV4) vaccination, commercialized as Gardasil, showed no increased risk of developing autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new Canadian study. The time since vaccination and the number of vaccine doses given also did not correlate with diagnoses of such disorders, supporting…

Improving financial support programs for those living with multiple sclerosis (MS) would increase workforce participation and boost economic activity, concluded a report published by the Conference Board of Canada in March, which was Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month. Today, about 100,000 Canadians live with MS, making Canada one of…

For Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Month and leading up to May 30, World MS Day,  EMD Serono, Canada, is taking a virtual reality program to three Canadian cities to help educate people about multiple sclerosis and its impact. The biopharmaceutical company wants to help people better understand what it…

Depression, anxiety and other mood disorders contribute to physical disability in women with multiples sclerosis, according to a Canadian study that confirmed the results of previous research. The article the team wrote, “Psychiatric comorbidity is associated with disability progression in multiple sclerosis,” appeared in the journal…

High levels of a protein called calnexin in the brain may disrupt the blood-brain barrier of patients with multiple sclerosis, a Canadian study suggests. The finding could lead to new treatment strategies to prevent brain damage in MS. The research, “Calnexin is necessary for T cell…

Registered patients in Canada can now purchase CanniMed Topical Cream, a product with medical cannabis oil designed to provide fast-acting relief for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other conditions associated with pain and inflammation. The product is the result of a collaboration between Canada-based CanniMed Therapeutics and Avaria…

Primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) patients in Canada in the earlier stages of this disease can now be treated with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), following Health Canada‘s decision to approve its use with restrictions. Roche/Genentech’s Ocrevus can be prescribed to adults with early-stage PPMS and characteristic signs of…

United Greeneries plans to launch online retail sales of medical cannabis in February for Canadians covered by the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations — a program for which certain multiple sclerosis (MS) patients may be eligible. United Greeneries, a unit of Harvest One Cannabis, an umbrella…

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has endorsed the North American Registry for Care and Research in Multiple Sclerosis, a collaborative effort involving other multiple sclerosis registries, clinicians, researchers and patients in the U.S. and parts of Canada. NARCRMS is a public-private partnership, bringing together academia, industry, governmental agencies, and nonprofit organizations with an interest in MS. It operates under the auspices of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers. It consists of a database of clinical records and patient-centered outcomes, providing clinicians and scientists with a greater and more integrated ability to track the incidence, prevalence and course of MS. Like many registries, NARCRMS includes data collected by physicians, like neuroimaging scans, genetic markers, cognitive assessments and specimen collection, and testing for identification of biomarkers of disease progression. It also adds patient-reported outcomes focused on disease challenges and impacts on daily life. Its goal is to improve the understanding of MS, facilitate multi-level care, and aid in recruiting patients into clinical trials. NARCRMS is the first open-source database to connect MS centers across North America to regional databases by state, region and zip code. To date, NARCRMS has recruited 10 centers, with another three in the process of coming aboard, and has enrolled 113 patients. The registry builds on North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis (NARCOMS), the oldest patient-driven registry in the U.S. using patient experiences to advance MS clinical care and life quality. NARCOMS was created in 1993 by the CMSC. More than 37,500 people had joined the registry as of 2015. Researchers used NARCOMS data on 2014 to report on outcomes in switching treatments, therapy effectiveness, disease progression, co-existing conditions, and other topics that help understand the MS experience.

Canadians with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis can now receive Merck’s Mavenclad, now that Health Canada has approved Mavenclad as a therapy to reduce the frequency of MS exacerbations and delay disease progression. Merck expects the drug to be commercially available by early January 2018 throughout Canada, which has the world's highest MS rate. This follows the drug’s approval by the European Commission in August, making Mavenclad Europe's first approved highly efficient, oral short-course therapy for relapsing MS. Merck said it would seek regulatory approval of Mavenclad in other countries, including the United States. Mavenclad was designed to selectively target immune cells that trigger relapsing MS, while resetting the immune system. With two annual courses of treatment for a maximum of 20 days over two years, the oral drug promotes long-term inhibition of harmful immune T- and B-cells, without continuous suppression of the immune system. Researchers evaluated Mavenclad in five clinical trials: Phase 3 trials CLARITY, CLARITY EXTENSION and ORACLE-MS; the Phase 2 trial ONWARD study ; and the long-term study PREMIERE. These involved more than 2,700 RRMS patients, some of whom were observed for more than 10 years. Clinical data showed that Mavenclad can significantly reduce disability progression, annualized relapse rates and brain atrophy. The treatment is generally recommended for patients who failed to respond adequately, or are unable to tolerate, one or more MS therapies.

Long-term exposure of at least three years of beta-interferon therapies such as Rebif or Avonex may increase the survival of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, a population-based study suggests. The study reporting the findings, titled “Beta-interferon and mortality in multiple sclerosis: a population-based international study,” was presented Friday at the ongoing ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting…

Older men with multiple sclerosis (MS) have more harmful lifestyles than older women with the disease, concludes the Canadian Survey of Health, Lifestyle and Aging with Multiple Sclerosis. Treatment for depression could go a long way to promoting more healthy lifestyles for all older MS patients, authors suggest. The study, “…

Canadian oilman Hank Swartout made a fortune as longtime founder and CEO of Precision Drilling. The Calgary native mortgaged his house to start the company, which by the time he left in 2009 had annual sales of $7 billion. But an early diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) at the age…

MS patients who start treatment at a younger age, and whose condition requires hospitalization, are more likely to stop treatment, a Canadian study reports. The research, published in the journal Dovepress, dealt with the main reasons Canadian patients quit first-line injected disease-modifying therapies, or DMTs. It was titled “Persistence to disease-modifying therapies for multiple sclerosis in a Canadian cohort.” DMTs can reduce MS activity, but patients must stick with them in order for them to be effective. “There is currently a paucity of clinical trial data on what happens to individuals when they discontinue DMT," the researchers wrote. "However, recent preliminary evidence from observational studies suggest increased relapses and disability in those who discontinue DMT." Researchers sought to identify MS patients at higher risk of discontinuing treatment. They looked at Manitoba Province's medical database to identify the types of drugs MS patients were taking, and for how long. The analysis covered 721 patients who received injected beta-interferons or Copaxone between 1996 and 2011, and whom doctors followed for at least a year. Teva manufactures Copaxone, whose generic name is glatiramer acetate. The mean age of the patients in the study was 37.6 years, and 74.2 percent were women. Researchers defined a discontinuation of a DMT as a 90-day or longer gap in treatment. A third of the patients were treated with beta-interferon-1b, either Bayer HealthCare's Betaferon/Betaseron or Novartis' Extavia. It was the first such therapy available in Manitoba. Twenty-three percent of patients received beta-interferon-1a, either Biogen's Avonex or Merck's Rebif. And 21 percent received Copaxone. The median time before a patient discontinued a DMT was 4.2 years. Although 62.6 percent of patients discontinued treatment at some point, 57.4 percent either reinitiated it or switched to a different DMT. Patients who were on DMT at least a year were more likely to stay with it than those who stopped in the first year. Importantly, patients who started a DMT at a younger age were more likely to stop taking it than older patients. “Our results are also consistent with previous work examining persistence for other chronic medication classes, including statins, antihypertensives, bisphosphonates, and oral antidiabetic agents, where the risk for discontinuing drugs declined in a linear fashion with age,” the researchers wrote. The team also found that 16 percent of patients had to be hospitalized overnight, with 3 percent of the cases due to MS-related complications. And these hospitalized patients were more likely to stop their DMT treatment earlier, the researchers said. Summing up, the team said: "Subjects who were younger when starting a DMT, had prior MS-related hospitalizations, were more recently diagnosed with MS, or had a greater lag time between their MS diagnosis and DMT initiation were more likely to discontinue therapy." Although "not all of the factors identified with discontinuing DMT" can be modified, "they may help practitioners enhance MS care by identifying individuals who may be at particular risk for DMT discontinuation," the researchers concluded.

Virtual reality (VR) technology is most commonly associated with gaming and entertainment, but it’s expanding into a variety of clinical and healthcare applications. The Ontario-based biopharmaceutical firm EMD Serono, Canada, is now using VR as an informational and educational tool to provide a more profound understanding of what living with multiple sclerosis…

Young multiple sclerosis (MS) patients who engage in physical activity can relieve symptoms of depression, concludes a Canadian study supported by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Researchers presented their study, “Longitudinal Relationships Between Moderate and Vigorous Physical Activity, Fatigue, and Depression in Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis,” at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the…

Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) may be developing the disease for up to five years before the first clinical diagnosis is made, a study has found. The study, “Health-care use before a first demyelinating event suggestive of a multiple sclerosis prodrome: a matched cohort study,” was published…

American patient groups and neurologists have clearly been giving Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) plenty of attention since news of its approval landed, as a sweep of U.S. reaction to the FDA’s decision showed. But what is happening elsewhere in regard to this first treatment for both primary progressive and relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS)?…

Canadian researchers are testing mice to see if cannabinoid oil products — a common medical marijuana treatment — could help alleviate the neuropathic pain that often afflicts patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The preclinical study, “Identifying the molecular mechanisms involved in supressing multiple sclerosis induced neuropathic pain following cannabinoid treatment in…

The University of Saskatchewan‘s incoming Chair in Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Research will have a research endowment worth $8.4 million to help him search for a cure for multiple sclerosis (MS). The school has recruited Michael Levin, MD, an experienced MS researcher, to lead the program for a seven-year term that will begin…

The effect air and noise pollution can have on the development of neurodegenerative diseases is not fully understood, but results from a large study published in The Lancet suggest living close to heavy-traffic roadways could increase the risk of developing dementia — but not other neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS)…

B-Temia announced the launch of its “b-Klinic Mobility” business unit, offering clinical services, information, training, and ongoing support to patients and healthcare professionals who use the company’s Keeogo walking assistive device. Keeogo is B-Temia’s first product in the class of dermoskeletons, designed to assist persons with mobility-related challenges that limit…

The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada (MSSC) recently announced that five university students — either diagnosed with or affected by multiple sclerosis (MS) — were the 2016 recipients of scholarships worth up to $350,000 in tuition and other school-related expenses. All five winners will receive the support throughout the four years of their undergraduate degrees, which are…

The Government of New Brunswick added  Lemtrada (alemtuzumab), by Sanofi Genzyme, to the New Brunswick Prescription Drug Program (NBPDP) through special authorization for eligible patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). New Brunswick joins other Canadian provinces, including Ontario, Saskatchewan, Quebec, and Manitoba, in making this treatment available to RRMS patients, ages 18 and older, who have had…