In the research world, references to breaking down silos abound, and we’re not talking about those found on the farm. These figurative silos are where information is contained and not shared outside of a particular area. Researchers work within their own organization, rarely sharing their work with others doing…

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics announced the Cleveland Clinic is the first clinical site contracted in the United States for the Phase 2 multi-center study evaluating the company’s NurOwn mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy in individuals with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). “We are very excited to announce The Mellen Center for…

A clinical trial to test the effects of antioxidant treatment with lipoic acid on progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) is recruiting 118 participants at seven sites in North America. The study sites include: Birmingham, Alabama; Burlington, Vermont;  Portland, Oregon; Salt Lake City, Utah; Seattle, Washington; Washington, D.C., and;…

Fatigue is more prevalent among patients with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study that surveyed patients on fatigue and factors related to it. In addition, increased fatigue severity correlated with greater physical, cognitive, and psychological impairment, although the strength of this link was largely the same…

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics is planning to launch a Phase 2 clinical trial in the United States to evaluate the safety and activity of its lead cell therapy candidate, NurOwn, in people with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). The company announced that has submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to…

A Phase 3 clinical trial intending to confirm the potential of MD1003, a high-dose biotin, in treating progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) patients is completely enrolled, MedDay Pharmaceuticals, the investigational therapy’s developer, announced. The randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled study (NCT02936037), called SPI2, follows the previous Phase 3 trial (NCT02220933),…

Progressive multiple sclerosis patients — with primary or secondary progressive disease — treated with high doses of oral ibudilast in a Phase 2 clinical trial showed a 48 percent slowing in the progression of brain atrophy, or shrinkage, relative to those given a placebo, study data show. What this…

The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada and the Multiple Sclerosis Scientific Research Foundation have awarded a $410,000 grant to fund research based on a new method for treating cognitive dysfunction in patients with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). About 70% of progressive MS patients suffer from cognitive abnormalities that…

Cerebrospinal fluid of progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) patients may carry lower levels of cell-free mitochondrial DNA, according to a team of researchers who say this may be a sign of neurodegeneration among these patients. The study “Cell-free mitochondrial DNA in progressive multiple sclerosis” was published in the journal Mitochondrion.

Loss of health-related quality of life is caused mostly by balance problems, muscle stiffness, and depression in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), and for those with progressive MS, the causes are muscle rigidity, paralysis, weakness, and pain, according to a…

When a progressively debilitating disease like multiple sclerosis (MS) causes a patient to feel physically “wiped out” after a simple daily activity, such as a shower, it is of utmost importance for these individuals and the people in their support system to understand how they can maintain independence for…

Rituximab is generally safe and effective in treating multiple sclerosis — with comparable effectiveness to Tysabri (natalizumab) in people with relapsing-remitting forms of the disease, a Swiss study reports. But patients using this therapy can develop recurrent infections, its researchers noted, and doctors should be vigilant. The observational study, “…

Investigational therapy ibudilast leads to a significant reduction of brain atrophy, supporting its potential to effectively treat progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), new data from a Phase 2 clinical trial show. These results will be shared at the upcoming 2018 Annual Meeting of the American…

Inhibiting an oxidative stress enzyme reduced nerve cell damage and promoted the formation of new nerve cells, a multiple sclerosis study in mice showed. It also helped regenerate cells that produce the nerve cell-protecting myelin sheath, researchers said. The team used a mouse model of the progressive form of MS in…

Top-line results from a clinical trial evaluating the investigational oral therapy ibudilast for progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) show that the therapy led to a significant reduction of brain atrophy in patients when compared to controls. Robert Naismith, MD, one of the study’s principal researchers from Washington University in St. Louis,…

A Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating AB Science’s masitinib as a treatment for progressive multiple sclerosis can continue without having to add patients, an independent review board has decided. The decision indicates that the therapy has been effective enough that its population base does not need to be expanded, the…

Clomipramine, an approved antidepressant, shows potential in treating people with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS)  — a disease form with few treatments — by protecting nerves from various processes thought to underly progressive MS, early research shows. The lab and animal study, which focused on already-approved treatments, was titled “Systematic…

A University of Cambridge researcher, Robin Franklin, has been awarded the 2017 Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research for his work on myelin repair and as a potential way of treating multiple sclerosis (MS). Franklin is a senior scientist at the Wellcome Trust-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell…

MMJ BioScience, an affiliate of medical cannabis research company MMJ International Holdings, has hired a principal investigator to lead clinical trials exploring potential therapeutic applications of cannabinoids in progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). Dr. Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, a neurology professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, is executive director…

Longevity Biotech has received a $316,384 grant from the National MS Society to see if LBT-3627, the nerve cell-protecting therapy it has tested in Parkinson’s, can work in multiple sclerosis as well. The company designed the therapy to protect and repair damaged nerve cells and restore balance to the out-of-whack immune response associated…

A giant leap in research and interest in progressive multiple sclerosis — from a few people pushing for such work to 2,000 listening to updates on it — a successful first trial in children, and a growing body of potentially safer treatments for relapsing MS were among the highlights of…

MD1003, a high-dose biotin developed by MedDay, slowed or prevented further disease progression among progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in a Phase 3 clinical trial, researchers announced at the Oct. 25–28 7th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting in Paris, France. The effects of the treatment were seen to be upheld over…

The 7th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting, taking place in Paris this month, is one of the largest scientific conferences focused solely on multiple sclerosis (MS), and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society will be among the many interested parties attending. To get a feeling for meeting highlights and presentations the…

Two molecules known to regulate cellular signaling contribute to the underlying mechanism of progressive multiple sclerosis, found a recent study conducted by investigators at Oregon Health & Science University and Yale University School of Medicine. These two proteins are related to each other, as they participate in the same cellular signaling process that regulate the immune system's response. Previous studies have blamed them for the worsening of several autoimmune and inflammatory disorders including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus. The research team found that patients with progressive MS had higher levels of MIF and D-DT proteins than those with the relapsing-remitting form of the disease. In addition, these proteins inflamed the central nervous system, making patients sicker. An analysis of the genes that encode the proteins revealed that higher levels of MIF were linked to the presence of two genetic variants that are more frequent in patients — particularly males — with progressive disease. Researchers confirmed their findings with animal models of MS-like disease that were genetically engineered to lack MIF and D-DT proteins. Taken together, this finding suggests that a simple genetic test could identify patients carrying the MIF genetic susceptibility — and therefore more likely to develop a severe form of MS. This study was partially funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Rocky Mountain MS Center Tissue Bank and the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs.

MediciNova will present data from its clinical trial of ibudilast (MN-166) in progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) at the upcoming 7th Joint ECTRIMS – ACTRIMS Meeting in Paris. The European and American Committees for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS and ACTRIMS) selected the presentation “…

A global Phase 3 clinical trial assessing MD1003 — also known as high-dose biotin — for progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) might lead to the approval of one of the first treatments helping select progressive patients to improve. The trial aims to prove that high-dose biotin can reverse disability in non-active progressive MS.

Kinesiology professor Richard van Emmerik and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently received a two-year $833,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to create an improved diagnostic test for multiple sclerosis (MS). The scientists expects their research to help an estimated 2.3 million people worldwide who live with…

Spending more time in the sunshine could make people with multiple sclerosis (MS) feel more energetic, though dietary vitamin D intake’s effect is mixed, depending on what type of MS a particular patient has. That’s the conclusion of a study — “Dietary intakes of vitamin D, sunshine exposure, EDSS and fatigue…

Nine months ago I started the high dose biotin protocol. I did so in an effort to slow the progression of my primary progressive multiple sclerosis. This is the link for my first article in August detailing the high dose biotin protocol and my results at that time.

The experimental therapy laquinimod was seen to prevent the start of harmful immune responses and to disrupt the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) in a mouse model of the disease. This finding may be especially promising, as the treatment is being developed for people with both relapsing MS and its rarer progressive…