October 19, 2021 News by Marisa Wexler, MS #ECTRIMS2021 ā CD20-positive T-cells May Be Early Drivers of MS 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. Certain types of…
October 18, 2021 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD #ECTRIMS2021 ā Early Ocrevus Slows MS Better Versus 2-year Delay 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. Early use of…
October 15, 2021 News by Marisa Wexler, MS #ECTRIMS2021 ā Lower Relapse Rates Seen With Tysabri Than Ocrevus 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. People withĀ …
October 11, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Deep Brain Stimulation, Evobrutinib, Hydroxychloroquine, Ocrevus and PML Deep Brain Stimulation May Help With MS-associated Tremors Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been used to treat people with Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor, and in some cases, those with MS who have severe tremors, when other treatments have failed. The treatment involves implanting electrodes in the brain so…
October 8, 2021 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Hydroxychloroquine Shows Potential to Treat PPMS in Phase 2 Trial Treatment with hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria medication, appeared to help slow disability progression among people with primary-progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) in a small, proof-of-concept clinical trial. Hydroxychloroquine “is a promising treatment candidate for PPMS and should be investigated further in randomized controlled clinical trials,” its researchers wrote. Results ofĀ the study…
October 7, 2021 News by Steve Bryson, PhD 1 Year of Ocrevus Not Linked to Higher Risk of Brain Infection PML One year of Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) treatment does not increase the risk for a rare brain infection ā called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) ā in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a study suggests. The study, āRisk Assessment of Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy in Multiple Sclerosis Patients during…
September 27, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Bladder Treatment, Anti-CD20 DMTs, Cancer and MS, Seasons and MS Oral Fesoterodine Fumarate Can Ease Bladder Problems in MS This is a biggie for me since bladder problems have affected my quality of life for years. I recently switched my bladder medication hoping it would be a change for the better. The jury is still out. So, I’ll have…
September 21, 2021 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Anti-CD20 Therapies Show Similar Safety, Efficacy in RRMS Anti-CD20 antibody therapies that target B-cells are highly effective for reducing the risk of relapses in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a new analysis confirms. The analysis did not find any significant differences in efficacy or safety among the anti-CD20 therapies currently approved to treat RRMS, though…
September 17, 2021 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Patients on Anti-CD20 Therapies Urged to Get COVID-19 Vaccine While people with multiple sclerosis (MS) taking anti-CD20 therapies do not mount a robust antibody response after getting vaccinated against COVID-19, the vaccines do strongly activate other parts of the immune system that are likely to be helpful in fighting the virus, a new study shows. “The message…
August 30, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Ocrevus, Myelin Repair, Early MS Problems, Black MS Experience Summit Ocrevus Reduces MS Relapse Risk, But Linked to More Hospitalizations As you can see from the first two paragraphs of this story, these hospitalizations occurred most frequently in older people with MS. Yet, as these researchers point out, the criteria for selecting the people who participated in Ocrevus’ clinical…
August 25, 2021 News by Somi Igbene, PhD Ocrevus Reduces MS Relapse Risk, But Linked to More Hospitalizations Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) reduces relapse risk and slows disability progression inĀ multiple sclerosis (MS) but also is associated with higher hospitalization rates in older people with relapsing forms of the disease, a new observational study reports. Hospitalizations ā which occurred mainly due to urinary tract infections ā were more frequent…
August 23, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Ocrevus, Probiotics, Floodlight App, Sativex in UK Trial Will Test Ocrevus on Arm, Hand Function in PPMS A lot of the focus in MS treatment and clinical trials is placed on walking ability. It seems to me that only recently has attention been paid to above-the-waist disabilities. I know that many people with MS have problems…
August 18, 2021 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Trial Will Test Ocrevus on Arm, Hand Function in PPMS A Phase 3 clinical trial testing the effect of Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) on upper limb disability progression in people with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) is recruiting participants. The trial, called O’HAND (NCT04035005), expects to enroll approximately 1,000 adults with PPMS, ages 18 to 65, at more than…
August 17, 2021 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD Ocrevus Effective in RRMS Patients With Poor Responses to Prior DMTs Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) safely and effectively prevents relapses and disease progression in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients who responded poorly to other disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), final two-year data from the CHORDS Phase 3b clinical trial show. Notably, these benefits also were observed among patients who enrolled in the study…
June 28, 2021 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Early Use of High-efficacy DMTs Favor Lesser Disability Over Time Long-term disability outcomes tend to be better in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) who are treated early on with highly effective therapies, a study based on patient registry data indicates. The study, “Long-term disability trajectories in relapsing multiple sclerosis patients treated with early intensive or…
May 27, 2021 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD Mayzent, Zeposia May Lose Ground in Canada, Report Finds Mayzent (siponimod) and Zeposia (ozanimod), the two sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulators most recently approved in Canada for treatingĀ multiple sclerosis (MS), showed strong launches in the country, according to the latest Spherix Global Insightsā report. However, due to several internal and external factors, sustained relevance of these…
May 24, 2021 News by Steve Bryson, PhD Antibody Levels, Age Linked to Infection Risk in Ocrevus-treated MS Lower antibody levels in the bloodstream and younger age are associated with a greater likelihood of infection in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) receiving Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) therapy, a study has found. āOur work adds to the body of literature detailing real-world outcomes in MS patients treated with [Ocrevus] and…
May 14, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias Efficacy of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Varies by DMT, Study Finds Are you being treated with a disease-modifying therapy (DMT) and wondering how it might affect the efficacy of an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine? If so, a recent study may provide some clarity. The study, published in Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders, looked at 125 MS patients either being treated with…
May 14, 2021 News by Steve Bryson, PhD MS Therapies That Deplete B-cells Appear to Work Against COVID Immunity B-cell-depleting therapies given to adults with multiple sclerosis (MS) affect the production of antibodies targeting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, a study reported. This finding has “consequences” for immunity in this patient group, whether that immunity follows SARS-CoV-2 infection or…
May 10, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Early MS, Fenebrutinib, Restless Legs, Safer MRIs Phase 4 Trial Will Test if Ocrevus Can Prevent MS Onset in RIS Patients Yes, you’re reading this right. This trial aims to see if Ocrevus can stop MS before it’s officially diagnosed ā when it may be smoldering and presenting a minimum of MS-like activity. In July, this…
May 7, 2021 News by Vanda Pinto, PhD Phase 4 Trial Will Test if Ocrevus Can Prevent MS Onset in RIS Patients Yale University is launching CELLO, a multicenter study to investigate the efficacy of Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) in treating people with lesions suggestive ofĀ multiple sclerosis (MS), a condition known as radiologically isolated syndrome. The Phase 4 study (NCT04877457) aims to evaluate whether short-term treatment with Ocrevus can…
April 27, 2021 News by Marisa Wexler, MS #AANAM – Early Ocrevus Treatment Helps to Protect Nervous System Editorās note: TheĀ Multiple Sclerosis News TodayĀ team is providing in-depth coverage of the 2021 Virtual AAN Annual Meeting, April 17ā22. GoĀ hereĀ to read the latest stories from the conference. TreatingĀ multiple sclerosis (MS) in its earlier stages with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) can substantially lower disease activity and lessen damage…
April 27, 2021 News by Marisa Wexler, MS #AANAM – Ocrevus, Rituximab Linked to More Severe COVID-19 Cases in Italy Editorās note: TheĀ Multiple Sclerosis News TodayĀ team is providing in-depth coverage of the 2021 Virtual AAN Annual Meeting, April 17ā22. GoĀ hereĀ to read the latest stories from the conference. Disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) that target CD20 are associated with worse outcomes from COVID-19 inĀ multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, an…
April 23, 2021 News by Marisa Wexler, MS #AANAM ā Tysabri Improves Quality of Life, Can Reduce Infection Risk Editorās note: TheĀ Multiple Sclerosis News TodayĀ team is providing in-depth coverage of the 2021 Virtual AAN Annual Meeting, April 17ā22. GoĀ hereĀ to read the latest stories from the conference. Treatment with Tysabri (natalizumab) can improve mental and social health in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to new…
April 20, 2021 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD #AANAM ā Blacks, Whites Respond Differently to B-cell Targeting Therapies Editorās note: TheĀ Multiple Sclerosis News TodayĀ team is providing in-depth coverage of the 2021 Virtual AAN Annual Meeting, April 17ā22. GoĀ here to read the latest stories from the conference. Common B-cell depleting therapies, such as rituximab and Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), may result in shorter duration B-cell depleting effects in…
April 19, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Helper T-cells, PML, WNT9B Gene, New MS Subtypes Helper T-cells Drive Transition from RRMS to SPMS, Study Suggests The T-cells referred to in this study, known as CD4+ cells, are believed to play a significant part in central nervous system inflammation. The disease-modifying treatment Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) is designed to destroy these misbehaving T-cells, along with B-cells, so…
April 15, 2021 News by Steve Bryson, PhD Ocrevus Use Linked to PML in Man, 78, With PPMS, Case Report Says A 78-year-old man withĀ multiple sclerosis (MS) developed the brain infection progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) after two years of treatment with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), a recent case report detailed. Treatment was discontinued and, as the patient’s symptoms worsened, he was moved to off-label…
April 12, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Predicting Progression, DMT Costs, MS Rates Retinal Layer Thickness May Predict MS Progression, Relapses We all know how unpredictable MS is. For some, it progresses very quickly, while for others, it follows a slow progression over many years. Wouldn’t it be nice if we knew the course our disease is likely to follow, right from…
April 9, 2021 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD Overall Cost of DMTs Stable 2018ā2020, Study Finds The overall cost of disease-modifying therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS) in the U.S. remained stable from 2018 to 2020, according to pharmacy and medical claims data from Prime Therapeuticsā insured members. This stabilization derived from a balance between a reduction in Copaxone (glatiramer acetate injection) use due…
April 7, 2021 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD Tecfidera, Gilenya and Ocrevus Losing Favor as Switch Therapies in US, Spherix Finds Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate), Gilenya (fingolimod), and Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) are losing ground to more recent therapies among U.S. multiple sclerosisĀ (MS) patients switching treatment, according to the latestĀ Spherix Global Insightsā report. The launch of MS generics, bioequivalents, and new brands in the U.S. market over the past year has increased…