Despite the existence of several disease-modifying drugs for people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), patients’ satisfaction plays a critical role in their adherence to treatment. Improving adherence should be a major concern in the clinic to prevent patients from evolving to more debilitating stages of the disease. A team of researchers in Germany report that side…

A retrospective study of vitamin D status and disability progression in multiple sclerosis patients — using real-life, clinical data from a large and varied group — found no  correlation between the two, although vitamin D levels may predict the occurrence of relapses in some patients. But these findings may have been limited by the lower doses of daily vitamin…

Dr. Fred Lublin, a renowned multiple sclerosis (MS) expert at Mount Sinai Medical Center, helped launch the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) 2016 Annual Meeting, June 1 – 4, in National Harbor, Md. with the John F. Kurtzke Memorial Lecture he titled “Do Relapses Really Matter?” “How relapses influence disease worsening,…

Researchers at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, recently showed that peripheral blood cells loaded with a drug that resembles the myelin protein are able to inhibit harmful immune responses and prevent relapses in a mouse model of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). The findings were described in the study “…

Clinical results presented at the recent Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP)‘s 2016 annual meeting in San Francisco showed that the use of H.P. Acthar Gel during multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses is associated with beneficial outcomes. The gel, according to its producer, is also available at a lower price than other frequently used…

Dr. Fred Lublin, a neuroimmunologist with a specialty in experimental therapies, will open this year’s annual meeting of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers on June 1 with an address questioning the continuing importance of relapses in multiple sclerosis (MS). But the question raised by the title of the…

The Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) 2016 Annual Meeting will open with the John F. Kurtzke Memorial Lecture, “Do Relapses Really Matter?”, by the renowned multiple sclerosis (MS) expert Dr. Fred D. Lublin of Mount Sinai Medical Center. The June 1 lecture offers a fresh view on recent evidence into the impact…

A systematic review of existing medical literature on multiple sclerosis (MS) could shed light on MS causes and predictors for disease progression, and on lifestyle changes — ranging from vitamin D intake to weight loss — that might reduce a person’s risk. The report, “Factors associated with onset, relapses…

EMD Serono, the North American biopharmaceutical business arm of Merck, announced it has gained exclusive rights over Rebif (interferon beta-1a) in the United States. Rebif  is a treatment for relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Rebif, an approved drug, is used to decrease the frequency of MS relapses and delay the occurrence of…

In a special feature published in the journal American Health & Drug Benefits, authors Stanton R. Mehr, President of SM Health Communications, and Marj P. Zimmerman, President of RxDirections, discuss the many unmet medical needs multiple sclerosis (MS) patients still face in dealing with the…

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society recently announced that a research team is recruiting 132 patients with a diagnosis of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) for a Phase 3 clinical study comparing an experimental medicine with an inactive placebo. NMOSD is a rare disorder caused by immune system cells attacking…