November 28, 2023 News by Andrea Lobo, PhD Providers weigh treatment logistics in selecting DMTs for MS patients Certain clinical attributes of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), such as safety and the medication’s impact on risk of relapse and disability progression, are considered important by healthcare providers in selecting the appropriate treatment for people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new survey study. However, a study experiment also…
November 7, 2023 News by Margarida Maia, PhD High DMT adherence lowers risk of moderate or severe relapse by 25% A high level of adherence to disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) is associated with a significant, 25% lower risk of moderate or severe relapses in previously untreated people with multiple sclerosis (MS) compared with those failing to adhere to therapy, according to a study of real-world data in Italy. High…
October 10, 2023 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Switching DMTs in MS found to impact relapse risk in real world People with multiple sclerosis (MS) who switch between more than two disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) have a higher risk of relapses compared with those who never switch, regardless of how well these patients adhere to their prescribed medications, according to real-world study in Canada. These findings are consistent with…
August 24, 2023 News by Margarida Maia, PhD Using highly effective DMTs early linked to fewer relapses in children Children and adolescents with multiple sclerosis (MS) who receive high-efficacy disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) early on are significantly less likely to experience a relapse than those given a less efficacious drug, a real-world study found. While most patients on moderate-efficacy therapies eventually switched to a more effective one, a…
July 12, 2023 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD Tysabri best of 6 DMTs to prevent relapses, worse disability in MS Tysabri (natalizumab) is better than five other disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) at reducing relapses and preventing disability worsening in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), according to the findings of a novel simulated clinical trial that directly compared the six treatments. The analysis used mathematical modeling to emulate a clinical trial…
July 7, 2023 News by Steve Bryson, PhD Outcomes better for RRMS patients who start on higher efficacy DMTs Outcomes are better for people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) initially treated with higher efficacy disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) than for those who begin with lower efficacy DMTs and escalate to more effective treatments as the disease progresses, according to a real-world analysis of patient registry data. Findings also…
June 28, 2023 News by Margarida Maia, PhD Early use of high-efficacy DMTs may keep patients on therapy longer Starting treatment with a high-efficacy disease-modifying therapy (DMT), rather than one with lesser efficacy, may reduce the number of times people with multiple sclerosis (MS) switch therapies due to a lack of effectiveness, a study of survey responses from doctors suggests. High-efficacy DMTs often are perceived to have…
March 17, 2023 Columns by Ed Tobias 3 tools to help you choose the right MS disease-modifying therapy Choosing the best disease-modifying therapy (DMT) to treat your multiple sclerosis (MS) can be a tough decision.Ā When I was diagnosed with MS way back in 1980, it was easy. There were no DMTs to choose from. The first three ā Avonex (interferon beta-1a), Betaseron…
January 25, 2023 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Fewer Women With MS Choosing to Stop DMT Use While Pregnant The use of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) by pregnant women with multiple sclerosis (MS) significantly increased over the last decade or so, and fewer of them are stopping treatment before giving birth, a single-center study in Italy reported. While most patients (95.1%) discontinued a DMT while pregnant between 2005…
January 17, 2023 News by Margarida Maia, PhD MS Relapse, Worse Disease More Likely for Smokers: New Study People withĀ relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) who are receiving oral disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) are still more likely to experience a relapse or any form of disease activity if they are smokers, a study found. Researchers also observed that former smokers had a disease…
January 6, 2023 Columns by Ed Tobias FDA Approval of Ublituximab, Now Briumvi, Is Good News The new year is bringing a new disease-modifying therapy (DMT) to the multiple sclerosis (MS) arsenal. Shortly after Christmas, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Briumvi (ublituximab), which joins a small group of DMTs that aim to halt MS progression by knocking out certain…
November 16, 2022 News by Somi Igbene, PhD Treatments Seen to Account for Largest Part of MS Financial Burden Medications account for the majority of costs related to managing multiple sclerosis (MS) in Italy, andĀ secondary-progressive MS (SPMS) is associated with higher treatment and healthcare costs than those forĀ relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a study looking at real-world data reported. āA bigger healthcare resource consumption was retrieved for…
October 25, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Risk of MS Activity After DMT Stop Greater With RRMS, Younger Age Note: This story was updated Oct. 31, 2022, to correct that in the six months after treatment discontinuation, relapses were reported in 18.8% of RMMS patients and 3.5% of those with SPMS. When multiple sclerosis (MS) patients stop their disease-modifying treatment, the risk of relapses and disease activity on…
October 11, 2022 News by Steve Bryson, PhD RRMS Transition to SPMS Fell With Start of DMTs, Swedish Study Finds The risk of transitioning from relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) declined significantly after the introduction of disease-modifying therapies (DMT), according to a large nationwide Swedish study. Data showed that SPMS conversion risk rose by 3% each year before the first generation of…
September 7, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD Off-label DMT Use for Progressive MS May Be as Effective as On-label Off-label use of high-efficacyĀ disease modifying therapies (DMTs) for people with progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) appear to be as effective as on-label, or approved, DMTs for this MS patient group, a review study from Brazil suggests. The meta-analysis, which included data from controlled clinical trials, found that…
August 5, 2022 Columns by John Connor Pesky Leukocytes Dash My Hopes of Joining a Trial of Mavenclad for MS In December 2019, I was stopped in my tracks, or rather wheels, as I was about to have my third infusion of Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), the multiple sclerosis disease-modifying therapy (DMT) that Iād been taking every six months for the past year. My neurologist had decided just a few…
May 23, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: DMTs and Symptoms, Aquatic Exercise, Infections āHiddenā Disabilities Fairly Common at RRMS Diagnosis, Study Finds This headline doesn’t report the full nature of this story. In addition to being “fairly common,” the research concludes that disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) have little effect on these so-called “hidden disabilities.”Ā I don’t agree with that conclusion. Most of…
May 23, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD Consistency in DMT Use ‘Low’ in US, Influenced by Side Effects, Insurance Persistent use of a single disease-modifying therapy (DMT) over a three-year period was low among people with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), a U.S. study found. DMT discontinuations or switches were initiated in some cases by prescribers, specialty pharmacists, or patients for reasons that included treatment side…
May 20, 2022 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD Progressive MS, Degree of Disability Increase Infection Risk People with progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) and those with greater MS-related disability have a significantly greater risk of serious infections relative to people without the disease, according to a population-based study in Sweden. Notably, these associations were observed regardless of the use of disease-modifying therapies, many…
January 17, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Epstein-Barr Virus, EHP-101, Anti-CD20 Therapies, Gut Bacteria Epstein-Barr Virus May be Leading Cause of MS, Raising Risk by 32 Times Several studies over the past few years have suggested a link between the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and multiple sclerosis (MS), but this one is huge, both in the number of participants and in the length…
January 7, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias More Answers About COVID-19 Vaccines and MS A little over a year ago, I wrote about whether people with multiple sclerosis (MS) should get a COVID-19 vaccine. I was anxious to be vaccinated as soon as I could, but I was also concerned about how the vaccines would affect someone with MS. Would the side effects…
December 20, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: COVID-19 Vaccines, Achtar Gel, Ublituximab, Pregnancy Study: Anti-CD20 Therapies, Gilenya Lower Efficacy of COVID-19 Vaccines This research adds more evidence to studies that have already shown that certain disease-modifying therapies reduce the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. Those DMTs include Kesimpta (ofatumumab) and Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), plus rituximab, another anti-CD20 vaccine, that is sometimes used…
December 17, 2021 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Pregnancy Poses Challenges to MS Management, Review Study Shows Women with multiple sclerosis (MS) who receive high-efficacy disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) before conception have a greater risk of relapses and disability progression during pregnancy than those given moderate-efficacy or no DMTs, according to a systematic review of studies. Exclusive breastfeeding for at least two to four months, however,…
December 13, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: DMTs and Age, Lyvispah, Cells Driving MS, Melatonin Worsening of Disability Evident in Older Patients Who Stop DMTs Some neurologists believe that multiple sclerosis (MS) progression slows, or even stops, when people reach their 60s, so they advise patients that there’s no need to continue their disease-modifying therapies (DMTs). Personally, I think a DMT age ceiling is…
November 9, 2021 News by Mary Chapman UK’s MS Pregnancy Register Seeks Improved Care for Women With MS Itās been a decade since the opening of the UK MS Register, which sought to gain a better understanding of how multiple sclerosis (MS) affects patientsā everyday lives, with a goal, according to its website, toward fueling campaigns for “fair, relevant policy and improved health care.” Now, the…
October 21, 2021 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD National MS Society Supports Stem Cell Transplant for Select, Aggressive RRMS The National Multiple Sclerosis Society supports the use of a patient-derived bone marrow transplant to treat people with very aggressive relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) who responded poorly to disease-modifying therapies (DMTs). This position is in line with a recent set of society recommendationsĀ on how and in…
October 15, 2021 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD #ECTRIMS2021 ā Stem Cell Transplant May Better Treat SPMS Than DMTs Editorās note: TheĀ Multiple Sclerosis News Today team is providing in-depth coverage of the virtual 37th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), Oct. 13ā15. GoĀ here to see the latest stories from the conference.
August 2, 2021 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD Risk of Severe COVID-19 Not Raised by Immunosuppressive DMTs Exposure to multiple sclerosis (MS) disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), and particularly immunosuppressive DMTs, does not increase the risk of developing a severe form of COVID-19, or of dying from the disease, when adjusting for known risk factors, an Austrian registry-based study found. These findings add to data showing no…
June 9, 2021 News by Marisa Wexler, MS DMTs Underutilized in Younger Patients, Study Indicates Nearly a third of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) who are younger than 40 are not being treated with disease-modifying treatments (DMTs), even though younger individuals are expected to get the most benefit from DMTs, according to a new study. “DMTs for MS are more frequently used at…
June 4, 2021 News by Margarida Maia, PhD AstraZenecaās COVID-19 Vaccine Safe for MS Patients, Small Study Suggests AstraZenecaās COVID-19 vaccine appears to be reasonably safe for people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a small study of its use in the U.K. Vaccine side effects were in line with those experienced by the general population, its researchers said, such as flu-like symptoms and sore arms.