November 2, 2020 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: Biotin, Opicinumab, Myelin, Tele-exercise MD1003 Fails to Prevent Disability Progression in Progressive MS Patients, Trial Shows This is discouraging news for people taking high-dose biotin, many who have been buying it over the counter. Not only do these researchers report that taking 100 mg of biotin (MD1003) three times a day failed to…
October 26, 2020 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD Biogen Discontinues Development of Opicinumab for MS BiogenĀ is discontinuing the clinical development of opicinumab,Ā its experimental treatment candidate forĀ multiple sclerosisĀ (MS), based on data from the Phase 2 AFFINITY clinical trial. The announcement, amid a third-quarter report, indicated that the study failed to meet both its main and secondary goals, without further details. The trial,…
September 11, 2020 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Progressive MS Trial of Kesimpta Not on Horizon, But Other Possibilities in Works Novartis is not planning to open a clinical trial ofĀ Kesimpta (ofatumumab)Ā as a potential treatment for primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) anytime soon, a company executive said. But it is well aware of the “unmet need” for therapy options among this patient group, and is exploring avenues. “We do…
July 18, 2019 News by Jose Marques Lopes, PhD Higher Doses of Opicinumab as Add-on Therapy Fail to Lessen MS Disability, Phase 2 Trial Shows Treating people with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS)Ā with opicinumab and Avonex (interferon beta-1a) for 72 weeks did not lead to a dose-dependent reduction in disability, Ā results of a Phase 2 trial show. However, an ongoing study is evaluating opicinumab in a subgroup with better clinical responses.
May 15, 2019 News by Marisa Wexler, MS #AANAM – Biogen Offers Update on Development Plans for MS Therapies At the 2019 annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN),Ā Multiple Sclerosis News TodayĀ sat down with Bernd Kieseier, MD, global head of multiple sclerosis at Biogen, to discuss the company’s portfolio, latest data, and therapeutic development plans in the field of multiple sclerosis (MS). Kieseier said…
October 25, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD #MSParis2017 ā New Trial of Opicinumab, an Anti-LINGO Antibody, in MS Builds on Lessons Learned, Biogen Says Opicinumab, an investigative treatment aiming to promote remyelination in relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, will be tested in a new clinical trial ā Ā having failed at an earlier effort, but having shown promise enough in particular patients to be worth a closer look. In fact, the new AFFINITY study “is…
October 23, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD #MSParis2017 – Biogen to Focus on Real-world Data from Range of Efforts to Understand MS In its work on multiple sclerosis (MS),Ā Biogen has adopted a comprehensive approach that ranges from Ā drug development to the exploration of real-world data and digital markers of disease. The company will showcase these efforts at the 7th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting in Paris on October 25ā28. Among its more than 80 presentations at the meeting are updates from its collaboration with Verily and Brigham and Womenās Hospital on using digital sensors that gather data on MS patients between physician visits. Biogen will also share data on the possibility of using such biomarkers to help neurologists in diagnosing and following MS patients āĀ offering information that could potentially help them in making treatment decisions given the variability of the disease in MS patients. The company is also involved in a collaboration with 10 MS centers that aims to generate data collected during routine care. The MS PATHS study includes data from physical examinations, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, and biological samples. A third and similar project ā the Big Multiple Sclerosis Data (BMSD) Network ā Ā is merging data from five MS registries, holding prospective information on nearly 140,000 patients. Taken together, these large collections of high-quality, real-world data will help researchers better understand the disease, and so, increase the potential of new treatment discoveries, Biogen says. The company is also working to discover and develop biomarkers that are not digital that may also advance the understanding of MS and its treatment. One such marker is neurofilament light, which signals damage to neuronal axons. Biogen will share data on how this marker changes over time in MS patients. Among presentations focusing on treatment development, Biogen will highlight new efforts with opicinumab . The treatment āĀ intended to repair damage by triggering remyelination āĀ failed to reach it primary goal in the Phase 2 SYNERGY trial earlier this year. Still, Ā data indicated that some trial participants did respond to the treatment. At ECTRIMS, Biogen will present an analysis of the SYNERGY data that identifies factors ā including specific MRI features ā that may be linked to a treatment response. Ā
May 2, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Remyelination Candidate Opicinumab Failed in Phase 2 Trial in MS, But Biogen Won’t Give Up Although a Phase 2b trial of the remyelination drug candidate opicinumabĀ (also known as anti-LINGO-1 and BIIB033) failed to meet its primary goal of improving disability in relapsing and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), researchers believe the drug did cause āfairly strongā improvements. The trial evaluated four doses of the…