conference

The Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) announced two contests that will be featured at its Annual Meeting, May 28–June 1 in Seattle, Washington. The contests, called “Design for Rehabilitation — Take the Challenge” and “CMSC Neuroinnovator,” are aimed at creating new technologies to improve the quality of…

The Physicians’ Education Resource (PER) will host its first international conference on the future of neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS), including prospective therapies. Set for Sept. 27–28 at the InterContinental New York Times Square, the continuing medical education (CME) conference will feature more than…

After months of preparation with storytelling experts, three ordinary Americans with multiple sclerosis (MS) took the stage in New York late last year to share their MS journeys. The three joined TV personality Montel Williams at an event inaugurating My MS: Second Act, a joint effort co-sponsored by…

MSCopilot, a software device designed for the self-assessment of multiple sclerosis (MS), distinguishes between patients and healthy controls, and potentially could be used in clinical practice for the monitoring of MS disability progression and patients’ response to treatment. Matthieu Lamy, from Ad Scientiam, the…

It is a question that multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, loved ones, and the larger community have asked for some time: “Will there be a cure for multiple sclerosis?” MS News Today had the opportunity to ask that question of leaders at the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in…

In the time necessary to perform a standard multiple sclerosis (MS) functional exam, gamified tests on a smartphone app provide much richer and reliable measurements of several distinct neurological functions, according to new data. These findings suggest that creatively-constructed smartphone apps may one day recreate entire neurological exams.

Women diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) say they lack guidance regarding family planning, pregnancy, and breastfeeding, according to a survey. Sixteen percent of those women also reported they didn’t become pregnant due to MS-related concerns. Casey E. Engel,  clinical researcher at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York,  presented the…

Patients with a range of diseases and disorders, including multiple sclerosis (MS), report high satisfaction with botulinum toxin — also known as Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA) — as a treatment for spasticity, results from the ASPIRE clinical trial show. The data were presented last week by Daniel S. Bandari,…

The levels of epsilon toxin are increased in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, and its presence in laboratory rodents replicated some aspects of disease activity, according to data presented at the 4th Annual Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) Forum. The researchers suggested that the epsilon…

Two new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) biomarkers — called central vein sign and paramagnetic rim sign — could be useful for differentiating true radiologically isolated syndrome (RIS) patients from those with mimicking features, new research shows. The findings were presented at the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple…

Jeffrey Cohen, MD, director of the experimental therapeutics program at the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research at the Cleveland Clinic, is the newly named  president of ACTRIMS, the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis. Cohen’s appointment concluded the 2019 ACTRIMS Forum that ran…

Asthma is significantly more common among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) than in the general population, a new study shows. The increased prevalence was especially evident in younger and elderly MS patients, regardless of race or sex. The study was presented at ACTRIMS 2019, the Americas…

There is a need for better diagnosis and treatment management of comorbidities — simultaneously occurring disorders — in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), as shown by the impact these additional health issues have on patients’ health-related quality of life, according to a new report. The data was presented by Lara…

Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) was shown to be a highly effective therapy for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in real-world clinical practice, according to Brandon Moss, MD, from the Cleveland Clinic. The data was presented in a poster session Feb. 28, at the Americas Committee…

As the protective molecular caps of our genetic information — called telomeres — become shorter in certain immune cells, the extent of multiple sclerosis (MS) disability progression increases, regardless of age, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) reported. The findings were presented at the annual…

The rate of spinal cord tissue loss is a strong indicator of conversion from relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) to secondary progressive MS (SPMS), according to a finding presented at the fourth annual Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) Forum 2019. The forum…

Data supporting the off-label use of rituximab in adolescents with pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (POMS) was presented at the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) Forum 2019. The session, titled “No Evidence of Disease Activity in the Majority of Pediatric-Onset Multiple Sclerosis Patients Receiving Rituximab,”…

The Physicians’ Education Resource will host an interactive, case-based discussion on the latest therapeutics in multiple sclerosis (MS). The free educational program, part of the 2019 Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) Forum (Feb. 28 -March 2), aims to inform…

Tailored, highly effective therapies early in the disease’s course may be a way forward in multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment, according to Cleveland Clinic neurologist Robert Bermel. Another neurologist with the Cleveland Clinic, Robert Fox, talked about potential and upcoming progressive MS treatments.  In interviews with Multiple Sclerosis News…

High vitamin D levels predict better cognitive function, while smoking is associated with worse long-term cognitive disability in patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), a study suggests. Data from the study was presented by Marianna Cortese, MD, PhD, from the Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan…

Despite its lack of specificity to multiple sclerosis (MS) in particular, monitoring patients with a blood biomarker — serum neurofilament light (sNfL) — may hold promise as a relatively easy way to assess treatment response and brain damage, according to MS experts. But there’s considerable work still to be…

Advances in multiple sclerosis research and the development of new treatments over the last several decades give sustained reasons for hope as continue moving toward our future, according to Jerry S. Wolinsky, a neurologist and MS specialist whose career spans more than 40 years. In a wide-ranging interview with Multiple…

MS PATHS, a way of capturing data on disease progression and treatment response in thousands of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients being treated at any of 10 participating clinics, has among its goals that of making clinical remission — a prolonged absence of any disease activity — possible, said an…

Treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients with Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) is associated with fewer new brain lesions at two years, lower relapse rates, increased time to first relapse, and reduced treatment discontinuation than with Aubagio (teriflunomide), according to a nationwide study from France and a real-world, population-based…

Substantial data supporting both the effectiveness and safety of Mavenclad (cladribine tablets) is before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and may lead to its approval as a short-course oral treatment for people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) some seven years after a first such request…

Mouse studies of siponimod — a potential progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment that’s up for approval in the U.S. and EU — were among presentations given by Novartis at the 34th European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), held Oct. 10-12 in Berlin. Animal work might seem…

Smoking and low levels of vitamin D can worsen prognosis for people with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), researchers who developed a model for predicting long-term disability progression report. Their study, “Predicting the course of CIS patients adding…

Being overweight is associated with accelerated grey matter volume loss in the brain, a mark of neurodegeneration, in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, a five-year observational study shows. But vitamin D levels, often suggested as an MS risk factor, do not seem to affect brain volume over time.

Relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients with serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL) levels higher than a proposed threshold have a higher risk of disease activity, and worsened disability, lesions and brain shrinkage in the long term, according to a new study. The research, “Serum neurofilament light (NfL)…

A person’s genes influence the development of multiple sclerosis (MS), but so does the environment — both that in which an MS patient lives, and that which a patient creates through diet and other lifestyle choices, researchers said in a Thursday session at the 34th congress of the European…