research

ImStem Biotechnology, Inc. is one step closer to harnessing the power of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to treat multiple sclerosis. Most recently, ImStem announced the successful treatment of an animal model of multiple sclerosis (experimental autoimmune encephalitis, EAE) using mesenchymal stem cells derived from hESCs (hES-MSCs). Using hES-MSCs…

Charles Moore, Science and Research Editor of Multiple Sclerosis News Today, recently reported two controversial, potential treatment options for multiple sclerosis. The first, “liberation therapy,” was conjured by Dr. Paolo Zamboni in…

snig / Shutterstock.com Following yesterday’s publication of “Multiple Sclerosis Management – A Changing Landscape 2013,” a report outlining ongoing goals and focus points for advancing MS drugs and treatments, as a result of a meeting of specialists in Vienna, Austria, a new article…

Biogen Idec is currently sponsoring a clinical trial evaluating its therapy Tysabri (natalizumab) in patients with secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis. Although relapse-remitting multiple sclerosis is more common and well-researched, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society estimates approximately half of relapse-remitting patients will transition to secondary-progressive within 19 years of diagnosis. The…

A new report was recently released outlining researchers’ ongoing goals and focus points for advancing MS drug development and treatment options. “Multiple Sclerosis Management – A Changing Landscape 2013” is the result of a meeting held in Vienna, Austria in April of 2013 that brought together 372…

A secondary analysis of data from a previous trial of an Internet-based exercise intervention in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) suggests that the program wasn’t as effective on the subgroups of MS patients to whom physical activity is more important, reports John Gever…

Research from the State University of New York at Buffalo suggests a protective link between interferon beta-1a treatment and brain volume loss (atrophy) in patients with relapse-remitting multiple sclerosis. Michael Dwyer, PhD, presented his study at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) and…

Another study, in what has become a succession of Canadian studies, has failed to detect a link between blocked neck veins and multiple sclerosis proposed by Italian physician and researcher Dr. Paolo Zamboni in 2008 (a report in the Lancet noted that this hypothesis was originally posed by…

The network of nationally recognized Multiple Sclerosis centers continues to grow throughout the United States. Recently, the Multiple Sclerosis Clinic at University of Texas (UT) Medicine San Antonio was selected as the new Multiple Sclerosis Partner in Care, a recognition granted by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The new…

Pharmaceutical company Novartis and health tracking and analytics platform Tictrac recently partnered up to support World Multiple Sclerosis Day and raise awareness for this disease by launching the campaign The 7-Day Challenge to Live Like You. The challenge, one of the first integrations of emerging technological trends by a pharmaceutical…

A new study on mice published in Nature Neuroscience finds that fingolimod (Novartis brand name Gilenya) a first-in-class sphingosine-1-phosphate-receptor modulator currently used in treating persons with severe relapsing remitting MS, may also have therapeutic value in treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The Nature Neuroscience study is titled…

The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency recently offered a positive opinion for the marketing authorization of Biogen Idec’s Plegridy therapy, a pegylated interferon administered subcutaneously for adults with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). The positive opinion will now be sent to the European Commission, which grants…

Two pharmaceutical companies, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) and Active Biotech, have just confirmed reports that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) is not recommending NERVENTRA (laquinimod) for use in treating relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) within the European Union (EU), according to a recent press release. Despite CHMP’s disapproval of TEVA…

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, a drug development company working on treatments that modulate therapeutically important immune responses with the help of T-cells, recently acquired the worldwide rights (apart from China), to conduct pre-clinical studies to produce products for possible therapies to treat and manage Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

A new study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association Neurology says that predicting disease evolution is becoming essential for optimizing treatment decision-making in multiple sclerosis (MS), in which pathologic damage typically includes demyelination, neuro-axonal loss, and astrogliosis. The study, entitled “Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy…

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a devastating disease for many who become afflicted with the disease’s progressive form, often in the prime of their lives, with no cure and when the effectiveness of established MS treatment is so often disappointing. Discouragement can lead to pinning premature hope on unproven therapies…

Positive study results from a preliminary phase II clinical trial for a new potential therapeutic intervention for the treatment of patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) were recently released at the American Academy of Neurology’s Annual Meeting in Philadelphia by Dr. Rhonda Voskuhl, M.D., from the University of California, Los Angeles.

A group of researchers led by Shin-ichiro Imai, MD, PhD, and Liana Roberts Stein, PhD, from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been working on pathways to trace cognitive decline in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). It has been noted in previous research that brain cells derive energy for maintaining…

According to a recent article by Beth Roessner at the Desert Sun, some Multiple Sclerosis patients are beginning to utilize healthier diets and eating habits to complement conventional treatments for their disease — an approach that even some researchers are beginning to study. Erin Davis, a 40 year-old woman,…

Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), the University of California (UC), Irvine and The University of Utah report that mice crippled by an autoimmune disease similar to multiple sclerosis (MS) regained the ability to walk and run after a team of researchers implanted human stem cells…

Opexa Therapeutics, Inc., a drug delivery company based in The Woodlands, Texas, has been making significant progress in researching and developing Tcelna®, a breakthrough T-cell immunotherapy for multiple sclerosis (MS). The company recently announced they have reached their enrollment mark for conducting a Phase IIb clinical trial to test Tcelna as a viable…

Patients with multiple sclerosis may benefit from improving blood fats, otherwise known as serum lipids, according to a new study from University of Tasmania in Australia published in Multiple Sclerosis…

The diagnosis of a disease normally depends on the risk factors one is exposed to during his or her lifetime, and subsequently therapeutic measures are taken in order to treat the same with hopes of a better prognosis and a healthy lifestyle. However, scientists at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital…

For years, clinicians and patients could only notice and accept the fact that four times more women than men are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Now, a group of researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are uncovering a potential reason for the disparity, and they recently…

A small scale study undertaken by researchers at the Department of Neurology, Oregon Health & Science University (OSHU) showed the benefits of maintaining a low-fat diet in improving fatigue related to multiple sclerosis (MS). The study was led by Dr. Vijayshree Yadav, M.D., an associate professor of neurology in…

Cambridge, Massachusetts based biotech firm Genzyme has formed a new research collaboration with Cleveland Clinic of Cleveland, Ohio with a focus on developing new therapeutic approaches to the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). More than 2.3 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with MS, including what is believed…

New classes of pharmaceutical agents tailored to fight autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, may be identified more effectively by adding genome analysis to standard drug screening, according to results of a new study by a collaborative research team led by UC San Francisco and…

Although the biological activity by which Copaxone (glatiramer) exerts its effects i multiple sclerosis (MS) patients is not fully understood, it is believed it can block the induction of autoimmune encephalomyelitis as observed in recent experiments with mice.  Research in animals and in vitro systems suggest that glatiramer acetate-specific suppressor…

New research work from GlaxoSmithKline presented by Daren Ausin, PhD, at the American Academy of Neurology’s 66th Annual Meeting has implications for individuals with relapsinig-remitting multiple sclerosis. The presentation detailed a study that used GlaxoSmithKline’s ofatumumab in 231 patients with relapse-remitting multiple sclerosis. Ofatumumab is an anti-B-cell antibody, and it…

The National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, based in Japan, announced that they will initiate a 3-month clinical trial on 9 patients with multiple sclerosis, beginning in March. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease caused by mutations of lymphocyte immune cells, which attack and destroy a patient’s own nerve cells. Patients with multiple sclerosis typically…