Tiziana Life Sciences has started to recruit clinical sites for a Phase 2a clinical trial that will investigate its foralumab nasal spray in people with nonactive secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). The announcement follows a meeting with the principal investigators of the trial at Brigham and Women’s…
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The European Commission has approved Tyruko (natalizumab), the first biosimilar of Tysabri, for the treatment of adults with highly active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). The approval makes Tyruko available in the European Union for the same indication as its reference medicine. It also marks the first approval…
The rate of brain atrophy, or volume loss, may help in determining whether disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) are slowing disability progression in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a review of data from 12 published studies found. The analysis, “Brain Atrophy as an Outcome of Disease-Modifying Therapy for…
For older adults with multiple sclerosis (MS) who have highly active disease, most neurologists recommend starting treatment with a high-efficacy therapy, according to a survey study. Neurologists also generally agreed that patients with MS should continue on treatment into the latter decades of life, and that older MS patients…
Certain COVID-19 vaccines do not appear to worsen the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), and may provide protection for at least six months after a booster dose, according to a study in Spain. The study specifically examined mRNA vaccines, or those that use a piece of RNA to teach…
FSD Pharma’s Lucid-21-302 — an oral treatment candidate known as Lucid-MS, for all types of multiple sclerosis (MS) — was found safe and well tolerated across multiple doses in healthy volunteers, according to interim data from a Phase 1 clinical trial. The newly released data are from the…
Welcome to “MS News Notes,” a column where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. Here’s a look at what’s been happening: An ‘inverse vaccine’ trial to treat MS What’s an “inverse vaccine,” you might ask? While traditional vaccines rev up…
Researchers have identified nearly two dozen genes that help to control the movement of immune cells into the brain and spinal cord during multiple sclerosis (MS). Findings may form the basis for the further development of MS treatments that aim to reduce disease activity by blocking the infiltration…
Using disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) doesn’t reduce fatigue levels in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a study in Norway suggests. Anxiety and depression were both associated with fatigue, suggesting “there are other underlying causes of fatigue than focal inflammation, on which DMTs have an effect,” the study’s researchers wrote…
Women with multiple sclerosis (MS) have significantly lower relapse rates after entering menopause, but disability levels increase significantly in that period, according to a pooled analysis of studies. The findings are consistent with a decrease in immune activity with age and loss of estrogen, leading to fewer disease-related relapses,…
Two non-pharmacological rehabilitation approaches — one using a computer program designed to improve working memory and the other involving standardized cognitive-behavioral group sessions — both improved the cognitive function of people with progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study reported. While varying medications often are used as…
Lapix Therapeutics is launching a Phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate LPX-TI641, its investigational treatment for autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), in healthy individuals. The first-in-human trial (NCT05853835) is expected to begin dosing later this year. It follows the recent clearance of an investigational new…
Swoop, a consumer health data company, is launching a first of its kind algorithm that’s designed to predict treatment adherence in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) or other conditions. The aim of the new algorithm — which is based on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) strategies…
Imcyse has completed patient enrollment and initial dosing in a Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating IMCY-0141, its next-generation immunotherapy, in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. The study, the first portion of a Phase 1/2 trial called IMCY-MS-001 (NCT05417269), is an open-label trial evaluating three doses of IMCY-0141…
Welcome to “MS News Notes,” a column where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. Here’s a look at what’s been happening: Vaccines pose no unusual risk of MS hospitalization, study says It’s time for me to get my seasonal flu shot,…
Nearly 1 in 5 people on Medicare — a U.S. federal insurance program for people ages 65 and older — travel at least 50 miles (about 80 km) each way to see a neurologist, according to a recent report. However, long distance travel was even more common for people living…
Tysabri (natalizumab) significantly reduced the development of brain lesions on MRI scans in Japanese people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), according to a new study. The therapy also eased or stabilized disability levels in most patients after five years of treatment, and significantly reduced the annual rate of…
Researchers at the Kessler Foundation have received $725,499 from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to study how to improve learning and memory in multiple sclerosis (MS). The team will use the funding to evaluate the benefits of a cognitive intervention called COMBINE, which involves cognitive training and…
Health technology platform Folia Health is expanding patient-reported data collection in multiple sclerosis (MS), Huntington’s disease (HD), and myasthenia gravis (MG), a move the company hopes will lead to collaborative observational research in the complex disorders, and help transform research and care. As part of this…
Note: This story was updated Sept. 15, 2023, to clarify ANK-700 was developed based on the preclinical work described in the study. An “inverse vaccine” that’s designed to teach the immune system not to attack a specific target, effectively reduced disease activity in mouse models of multiple sclerosis (MS),…
People with multiple sclerosis (MS) are about two times more likely to have migraines than healthy people while migraines affect around 24% of people with the neurodegenerative condition, a recent meta-analysis suggests. The mechanisms behind the higher risk in MS, “continue to elude us, and further investigation is warranted…
People with multiple sclerosis (MS) who receive vaccines against influenza — commonly known as flu shots — as well as diphtheria, polio, pneumoccocus, and multiple other pathogens are not significantly more likely to be hospitalized due to a disease relapse, according to a new study in France. Similar…
Octave Bioscience plans to test its precision care program in an observational, real-world study with people with multiple sclerosis (MS). The program, called MS Precision Care Solution, uses blood biomarkers to monitor disease activity alongside MRI scans of the brain and spinal cord. An app tracks…
Note: This column was updated Sept. 12, 2023, to correct that Octave’s MSDA blood test is currently available and in use throughout the U.S. Welcome to “MS News Notes,” a column where I comment on multiple sclerosis (MS) news stories that caught my eye last week. Here’s a look…
A new statistical method could help to more accurately capture changes in disability severity for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and monitor the impact of MS treatments. “With the use of this new statistical methodology, it is possible to estimate the time to improvement as well as the…
Innodem Neurosciences has signed a multi-year agreement with Novartis Canada to continue developing Innodem’s digital biomarker eye-tracking technology, a noninvasive method to monitor disease progression in multiple sclerosis (MS). The multimillion-dollar commercial agreement comes on the heels of promising data from an observational trial, sponsored by…
Mice exaggerate and monkeys lie, some researchers jokingly say. (Or is it the other way around?) Testing on rodents and animals is a typical early step in creating medications, and Multiple Sclerosis News Today publishes news articles about many of these studies. It’s interesting to read what researchers are…
A protein called Daam2 helps to regulate the activity of cells in the brain that make myelin, the fatty covering around nerve fibers that’s damaged in multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study shows. By uncovering how that protein functions in the brain to boost myelin repair, researchers have discovered…
Bowel symptoms go largely unreported among people with multiple sclerosis (MS), mostly due to the unwillingness of patients to talk about their symptoms with their doctors, according to a recent study. However, a self-reported questionnaire called Neurogenic Bowel Dysfunction (NBD) may help screen patients for bowel symptoms without the…
A test that assesses the levels of 18 proteins in the blood and uses artificial intelligence algorithms can help to measure the level of new disease activity in multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new study. The test, developed by …