conference

A higher frequency of early relapses, as well as a larger volume of lesions and older age at disease onset, increase the risk of transitioning from relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) to secondary progressive MS (SPMS), according to a study. The study, “Early cortical pathology and…

Processing speed is associated with the extent of brain and spinal cord injury in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new study conducted in a clinical setting. The results support using the Processing Speed Test (PST) in both clinical practice and trials. The study, “…

Treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with rituximab does not increase breast cancer risk in women, and is not associated with a higher risk for malignant cancer of any type in men or women, when compared to Gilenya (fingolimod) or Tysabri (natalizumab), according to a nationwide study in…

Treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with rituximab leads to lower-than-reported mortality rates, according to a large real-world study in the U.S. and Sweden. The findings also revealed no deaths due to infusion reactions or to systemic inflammation. The study, “Mortality rates in large US and…

Merck KGaA will present the latest advances made on several of its therapies aiming to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) at the 34th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research In Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS). The conference is taking place through Friday in Berlin. The company, known as…

A new subtype of multiple sclerosis (MS) — called myelocortical MS (MCMS) — is characterized by cortical neuronal loss, but not by loss of myelin in the brain’s white matter, according to a study. Research on this new type of MS was presented today at the 34th congress of…

Clinical data and real-world results support the long-term efficacy of Biogen’s medications for multiple sclerosis (MS), according to scientific presentations being released by the company. Specifically, findings support the effectiveness of Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) and Tysabri (natalizumab) used early in the disease’s course, as well as the…

Treatment with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) over five years lessened upper limb disability progression in primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) patients, reduced relapses and brain disease activity in patients with relapsing MS, and helped achieve no evidence of disease progression (NEDA) in a greater proportion of African-descent patients, compared to treatment…

Thousands of scientists, doctors, pharmaceutical company executives and others — representing about 100 countries — will meet for three days to discuss and debate the latest developments in multiple sclerosis (MS) at the 34th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis, best known as…

Atrophy seen in areas of the spinal cord is a better predictor of physical disability in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) patients than loss of brain volume, a new study reports. The research was presented at the 4th Congress of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN), recently held in Lisbon,…

New treatment guidelines for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in Europe were set in place through an initiative undertaken by the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) and the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS). Launched in parallel to the 4th Congress of the European Academy…

Treatment with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) slows disability progression in primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) in ways that may be of considerable importance to patients — including the possibility of delaying the need for a wheelchair by up to seven years, according to new data from a Phase 3…

Inhibiting an oxidative stress enzyme called myeloperoxidase protects the blood-brain barrier in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS), limiting the migration of immune cells and halting their attack on nerve cells, researchers have found. Disruption of the blood-brain barrier is a hallmark of various disorders, including MS, and when…

Patients with active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) continue to show improvement — lesser functional disability across a variety of measures — and often without the need for continuous treatment after taking Lemtrada for two years, according to six-year results from the CARE-MS II extension study. These results were shared in a…

New results from a Phase 2 trial evaluating TG Therapeutics’ ublituximab continue to support the therapy’s efficacy in treating relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). This investigative infusion therapy is now moving into a Phase 3 study. Treatment with 450 mg of ublituximab delivered intravenously in a rapid fashion…

Oryzon Genomics will give updates on its leading investigational product ORY-2001, a brain-targeting epigenetic therapy now in a Phase 2 clinical trial recruiting multiple sclerosis patients, at a series of scientific conferences. According to a press release, these include two conferences in the United States, the 2018 BIO…

Julie Roberts, a country music singer and multiple sclerosis (MS) patient advocate, will perform at the upcoming Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC)’s annual meeting, the association announced Roberts, diagnosed with MS while making her second recording in 2005, will also attend CMSC sessions to learn more about…

Curatio and BioScript Solutions recently launched a mobile patient engagement platform designed to provide multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with a way to connect, share experiences, and gain new knowledge. The private, free social network app was introduced at the recent HLTH conference, which took place May 6-9…

The science underlying our understanding of multiple sclerosis — through to new technologies that might expand that understanding in ways “never imagined” — was the focus of a recent educational webinar titled “The Evolving Science of Multiple Sclerosis (MS).” Kottil Rammohan, MD, a professor of clinical neurology and director of the…

Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) can sustain reduced activity and prevent progression of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) for more than seven years, clinical data from the CARE-MS extension trial shows. Findings were recently presented in four poster presentations at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in Los Angeles. Lemtrada, marketed by Sanofi Genzyme, is an approved MS therapy that, according to its label, should generally be reserved for patients who have had an inadequate response to two or more other therapies. But the use of the word "generally" opens a window of opportunity “to use Lemtrada as a second-line therapy and potentially first-line therapy,” Barry Singer, MD, director of the MS Center for Innovations in Care at Missouri Baptist Medical Center, said in an email response to questions from Multiple Sclerosis News Today. The treatment was initially tested in two pivotal clinical trials in comparison with a high-dose under-the-skin injection of Rebif (interferon beta-1a) in RRMS patients. Participants were either new to treatment (CARE-MS I, NCT00530348) or had not responded to prior therapies (CARE-MS II, NCT00548405). During these trials, patients received 12 mg of Lemtrada for three or five consecutive days in two annual courses — at the beginning of the study and again one year later. After completing this treatment period, they had the opportunity to participate in a four-year extension study (NCT00930553) during which they could receive the therapy as needed to control their disease. Patients completing the extension could enroll in the five-year TOPAZ trial (NCT02255656) for further evaluation. To date, 80% of the participants (299 patients) from CARE-MS I and 73% from CARE-MS II (317 patients) have completed seven years of long-term follow-up. After completing two initial courses of Lemtrada, 59% of patients from CARE-MS I and 47% from CARE-MS II did not require additional treatment courses with Lemtrada or other disease-modifying therapies during the next six years. Two-thirds of  CARE-MS II patients who required a third Lemtrada course also experienced disability stabilization one year after the last treatment. During the seven years of follow-up, reported annualized relapse rates remained low, and 37% of patients from CARE-MS 1 and 44% from CARE-MS II experienced confirmed improvements in disability. In fact, during this period, only 26% from CARE-MS 1 and 31% from CARE-MS II showed disability worsening. The treatment also had a sustained effect on slowing brain volume loss by the seventh year, with a median yearly brain volume loss of 0.20% or less from the third to seventh year. This effect was found to be even better than that reported during the initial two years of treatment in the pivotal studies (0.59% in the first year and 0.25% in the second year in CARE-MS I, and 0.48% in year one and 0.22% in year two in CARE-MS II). Additionally, evaluation by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed no signs of disease activity during the seven years of follow-up. “The extension study data being presented at AAN illustrate that more than two-thirds of patients did not experience confirmed disability worsening at year seven after initiating treatment with Lemtrada,” Singer said in a press release. “In addition, consistent effects were maintained over time across relapses and MRI outcomes including brain volume loss, even though the majority of patients did not receive any additional treatment over the prior six years.” During the extension studies, the frequency of adverse events was similar to that reported during the pivotal studies. In seven years, three deaths occurred, none of which was considered to be treatment-related. Thyroid adverse events were reported to be more frequent by the third year, but declined thereafter. As Singer noted, "the serious risks of Lemtrada, including serious infusion reactions, serious infections, thyroid disease, kidney disease, low platelets and potential malignancies, must always be discussed with the patient." All patients should also be carefully monitored on a monthly basis for four years after the last treatment course “to screen for autoimmune complications, including low platelet counts, thyroid disease, and kidney disease,” he said. Lemtrada’s long-term effects were shared at the AAN annual meeting in these presentations: “Active RRMS Patients Treated with Alemtuzumab Experience Durable Reductions in MRI Disease Activity and Slowing of Brain Volume Loss: 7-Year Follow-up of CARE-MS II Patients (TOPAZ Study)” “Durable Clinical Outcomes With Alemtuzumab in Patients With Active RRMS in the Absence of Continuous Treatment: 7-Year Follow-up of CARE-MS II Patients (TOPAZ Study)” “Durable Reduction in MRI Disease Activity and Slowing of Brain Volume Loss in Alemtuzumab-Treated Patients With Active RRMS: 7-Year Follow-up of CARE-MS I Patients (TOPAZ Study)” “Durable Clinical Efficacy of Alemtuzumab in Patients With Active RRMS in the Absence of Continuous Treatment: 7-Year Follow-up of CARE-MS I Patients (TOPAZ Study) Lemtrada is approved in more than 60 countries, and has additional marketing applications under review by regulatory authorities worldwide.

Treatment with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) is linked to a reduced immune response to vaccinations in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a Phase 3 trial. These results were recently presented at the 2018 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting in Los Angeles in a presentation titled, “Effect of Ocrelizumab on Vaccine Responses in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis.” Genentech’s Ocrevus is an approved MS therapy that targets the CD20 protein located on the surface of B-cells, targeting the cells for destruction. B-cells are immune system cells involved, for example, in the production of antibodies necessary to fight off infection. At the AAN meeting, researchers reported that in MS patients, treatment with Ocrevus decreased the ability of B-cells to activate other immune cells, improving the rate of MS attacks. Penn Medicine neurologist Amit Bar-Or, MD, presented these findings, which showed that interactions between different classes of immune cells, such as B- and T-cells, promote MS attacks. Vaccination against infections is an important part of the management of patients with MS. So, in a second study (NCT02545868), researchers investigated the impact treatment with Ocrevus has on patient response to vaccines. They recruited 102 patients with relapsing MS and randomized them in two groups. In group A, 68 people received a single dose of 600 mg Ocrevus (administered into the blood); in group B, 34 patients received no disease-modifying therapy or interferon-beta. All patients were then administered vaccines for tetanus, seasonal flu, and pneumococcus. Patients in group A received the vaccines 12 weeks after they were treated with Ocrevus, while group B patients received the vaccines on day one. Researchers also tested patients’ response to a novel protein (an antigen) never "seen" by their immune system, called keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) neoantigen. The vaccinations led to an immune system response in all patients, but the level of response in patients treated with Ocrevus was lower. A positive response to the tetanus vaccine at eight weeks after treatment was 23.9% in group A (Ocrevus) compared with 54.5% in group B (no treatment); the response to pneumococcus vaccination was 71.6% in group A and 100% in group B. After four weeks of treatment, the levels of antibodies against the different strains of the flu virus were lower in Ocrevus-treated patients than in the control group, ranging from 55.6% to 80.0% in the Ocrevus group compared with 75.0% to 97.0% in the controls. The immune response to the neoantigen KLH was also decreased in the Ocrevus group. "This study shows that while people with MS treated with ocrelizumab [Ocrevus] can still mount vaccine responses, it's not nearly as strong as prior to treatment," Bar-Or said in a press release. "While antibody responses were reduced in the ocrelizumab treated patients, they still responded to a certain level," he said. "This is valuable information in terms of seasonal vaccines such as the flu — it appears safe for patients taking ocrelizumab to get vaccinated and vaccination is likely to provide them with at least some protection from such infections." These findings correlate with standard guidelines that advise patients to undergo vaccinations six weeks before they start treatment with Ocrevus.

A new American Academy of Neurology (AAN) guideline recommends that multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in general be counseled to start treatment with disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) as early as possible. Considerations on switching and stopping treatments are also presented in the guideline. The report, “Practice guideline recommendations…

Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, also known as aHSCT, has been shown to be safe and highly effective to treat patients with "aggressive" multiple sclerosis. Tested in 19 patients, transplantation of stem cells was found to induce clinically meaningful improvements in disability. These findings were shared at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in Los Angeles, California. aHSCT uses a patient’s own healthy bone marrow stem cells, in combination with a much less aggressive chemotherapy and/or radiation regimen, to prepare the patient for the transplant. Previous studies have suggested that aHSCT is an effective strategy to treat patients with highly active relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) who do not respond to available disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), and international guidelines advocate for its use in patients with "aggressive" MS. To further demonstrate the potential of aHSCT as a treatment for "aggressive" MS, a research team evaluated its safety and effectiveness in MS patients who had not been treated previously with DMTs. A total of 19 patients were treated across several clinical centers: seven patients were from Sheffield, U.K., seven from Uppsala, Sweden, four from Ottawa, Canada, and one patient was from Florence, Italy. All patients received aHSCT between May 2004 and May 2017. In addition to aHSCT, patients were treated with BEAM (carmustine, etoposide, cytarabine, melphalan) chemotherapy plus antithymocyte globulin (ATG) to reduce transplant rejection, or with Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide) with ATG, or the triple combination of Cytoxan, ATG, plus busulfan as conditioning regimens. Patients had a median age of 33 years at diagnosis and received the aHSCT by a median time of nine years after symptom onset. They had a median disability score of 6.5 before the treatment, as determined by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). After a median follow-up period of 30 months, patients had a median EDSS score of 2.0, which represented a median improvement of 2 points (the higher the score, the worse the patient's disability level). None of the patients had clinical relapse following the transplant of stem cells. Only three patients developed new brain lesions detectable by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at the first six-month follow-up evaluation, but no additional new lesions were detected in the following scans. The adverse effects reported during the study were comparable to those previously observed in similar treatments. No deaths related to the treatment were reported. Based on these preliminary results, the researchers concluded that aHSCT is “safe and highly effective in inducing rapid and sustain remission” in highly active MS, and "was associated with a significant improvement of [patient’s] level of disability.” “aHSCT should be considered as first line therapy in patients with ‘aggressive’ MS,” the team concluded. Another study presented at the AAN 2018 meeting further supports these findings, demonstrating the superior effectiveness of aHSCT over conventional DMTs for RRMS.

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 University and presented at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) annual meeting taking place in Los Angeles through…

An additional analysis of data collected during the Phase 3 PARADIGMS trial found Gilenya (fingolimod) can prevent the progression of disability and control multiple sclerosis (MS) activity in pediatric patients. Results of the analysis were the subject of an oral presentation Tuesday at the 2018 American Academy of Neurology…

A diet rich in fish consumption and supplemented with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) is linked to a reduction of 45 percent in the risk of developing multiple sclerosis, a study shows. The results confirming previous research will be shared April 26 at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of…

Celgene’s oral treatment candidate ozanimod can effectively reduce relapse rates in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with mild to moderate disability, results of two Phase 3 trials show. The company will present data on the SUNBEAM (NCT02294058) and RADIANCE (NCT02047734) trials in two presentations at the…

Treatment with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) shows sustained efficacy and an ability to improve cognition in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to data being presented by Genentech, the drug’s developer. The company will detail these findings in a series of oral and poster sessions at the 2018 American Academy…

Beginning treatment early with disease-modifying therapies is the most effective approach to prevent multiple sclerosis (MS) progression in patients, a large-scale study suggests. Data from the Danish study will be presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), taking place April 21-27…

Genentech’s Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) reduces levels of cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers that denote nerve cell damage in multiple sclerosis patients, a Phase 3 clinical trial shows. Researchers will present the results at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting in Los Angeles, April 21-27. The presentation will be titled “Interim Analysis of the…