December 13, 2022 News by Joana Vindeirinho, PhD Long-term Use of Gilenya Doesn’t Appear to Affect MS Patients’ Vision More than four years of treatment with Gilenya (fingolimod) did not cause significant swelling of the macula ā a part of the retina, found in the back of the eye, and important for visual clarity ā in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a small study showed. While…
December 6, 2022 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Gut Microbiome Composition May Help Predict Treatment Side Effects Differences in the composition of the gut microbiome are associated with an altered risk of low immune cell counts as a side effect of treatment with the multiple sclerosis (MS) therapy Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate). The findings provide further insights on how the gut microbiome ā the billions of…
May 23, 2022 News by Lindsey Shapiro, PhD Consistency in DMT Use ‘Low’ in US, Influenced by Side Effects, Insurance Persistent use of a single disease-modifying therapy (DMT) over a three-year period was low among people with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), a U.S. study found. DMT discontinuations or switches were initiated in some cases by prescribers, specialty pharmacists, or patients for reasons that included treatment side…
January 18, 2022 News by Margarida Maia, PhD Gilenya Shows Long-term Efficacy, Safety in Real-world RRMS Study Long-term treatment with Gilenya (fingolimod) in routine clinical practice is safe and effective for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a five-year study in Germany of more than 4,000 patients reported. Over time, relapses in the majority of study patients who continued with Gilenya became less common and less severe,…
November 22, 2021 News by Margarida Maia, PhD COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects With MS Similar to Public at Large Side effects upon receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in people withĀ multiple sclerosis (MS) are similar to those reported in the general population, and patients on certain disease-modifying therapies are less likely to have vaccine reactions,Ā a survey-based study found. The findings provide āa reassuring pictureā for those who feel hesitant about…
July 23, 2021 News by Margarida Maia, PhD Skin Reactions ‘Frequent’ With Mavenclad, Real-world Study Finds Skin reactions are common amongĀ relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients being treated with oral Mavenclad (cladribine), affecting about one-third of the people evaluated inĀ a real-world study in Germany. These findings suggest the need for careful clinical surveillance to rapidly diagnose and possibly treat skin problems stemming from Mavenclad’s use,…
March 12, 2021 Columns by Ed Tobias My 2nd COVID-19 Vaccine Shot Caused No Harsh Side Effects Last week, my wife and I were back in Bowie, Maryland, for our second shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. It was a sunny and warm afternoon after a windy, cold, and wet month. We hoped that was a good omen. Nina, the same pharmacist who gave us our…
February 12, 2021 Columns by John Connor Britain Leads the World in Two Types of Jabbing I was 6 years old when British boxer Henry Cooper knocked Cassius Clay on his bottom. (It was that long ago, folks ā 1963. This was before Clay’s religious conversion and consequent name change to Muhammad Ali.) Unfortunately, Clay was literally saved by the bell. I remember dashing around…
April 3, 2020 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Headache a Common Side Effect of Interferon-beta Treatment, Study Finds New or worsening headaches are a more common side effect of interferon-beta (IFN-beta) treatment in people with multiple sclerosisĀ (MS) than previously appreciated, a new study suggests. The study, “Interferon-Beta-Induced Headache in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: Frequency and Characterization,” was published in theĀ Journal of Pain Research.
February 27, 2020 Columns by Jennifer (Jenn) Powell I Am Beautifully Rare Despite SPMS I have secondary progressive multiple sclerosis and I am rare. In honor of Rare Disease Day on Feb. 29, I honor myself. I honor you and anyone else with a rare disease. I have been asked if multiple sclerosis qualifies as a rare disease. It does if…
November 26, 2019 Columns by Jessie Ace From New Hope Emerged an Old Nightmare I was bruised, broken, and in pain. I had been struggling with Rebif (interferon beta-1a) side effects for over a year, ever since my diagnosis. It was the first multiple sclerosis medication doctors put me on, and it did not work…
November 1, 2019 Columns by Ed Tobias My Lemtrada Journey: Observations at 18 Months After Round 2 It’s time for another update on how I’ve been doing with my Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) treatments. The bottom line is that I’m doing well. Lemtrada is a disease-modifying therapy (DMT) delivered in two stages. The first stage entails a series of five daily infusions, while the second stage involves…
October 25, 2019 News by Ana Pena PhD Twice Daily Dosing and Side Effects Top Reasons Patients Seen to Stop Tecfidera in Small Study A twice-daily dosing schedule and side effects like nausea and flushing are key reasons why more than 10% ofĀ multiple sclerosis (MS) patients followed for a year stopped usingĀ Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) as prescribed, a single-site study reports. Adherence to treatment is key to patients’ health, and doctors should not…
October 4, 2019 Columns by John Connor Saturday Night and Sunday Morning: A Weekend of UTIs For the last few months, urinary tract infections (UTIs) have been the main subject of this column. My current disease-modifying therapy, Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), has had a significant impact on my multiple sclerosis (MS). The only downside is that Ocrevus attacks B-cells in the body, increasing the risk…
April 18, 2019 News by Joana Carvalho, PhD EMA Reviewing Safety Data for Lemtrada After Reports of Serious Treatment Side Effects The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is reviewing safety data for Sanofi Genzyme‘sĀ LemtradaĀ (alemtuzumab) following new reports of serious treatment side effects. Lemtrada is a humanized monoclonal antibody used to slow disease progression in adult patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). It works by blocking the activity of…
April 10, 2019 News by Ana Pena PhD MS Misdiagnosis Too Common, Puts Patients in Unnecessary Peril from Therapies, Study Reveals Nearly 18% of new multiple sclerosis (MS) patients referred to two speciality clinics in Los Angeles, California, had been misdiagnosed with the disease, according to a recent study. Most of them actually were affected by migraines, among other…
December 14, 2018 Columns by John Connor Betwixt and Between Usually, I have an idea of what I’m going to write. Today, all I feel is a bit meeeeughĀ … Which is more a sound of ennui than a recognizable word. In these days of multimedia, I suppose I should record it and insert the clip into the text, but…
December 14, 2018 News by Santiago Gisler MS Patients Report Beneficial Effects of Cannabis With Few Side Effects, Survey Shows Many multiple sclerosis (MS) patients report that cannabis has beneficial effects on their symptoms with minimal side effects, according to a survey that also showed that varying effects on health may be due to differences in how users consume cannabis. Findings from the survey were reported in the…
December 4, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias How Worried Should We Be About MS Medication Side Effects? Over the past couple of weeks, two warnings have been issued about side effects of multiple sclerosis (MS) medications. First, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned about a slight risk of seriously worsening MS symptoms if someone who is using the disease-modifying therapy (DMT) Gilenya (fingolimod) stops using…
October 10, 2018 Columns by Mike Knight Pill Stopper: Why Iām Off My Meds I’m not taking all the medication I’ve been prescribed. Chances are, youāre not either. Medication nonadherence,Ā or not taking medicine as prescribed, is a thing ā a big thing. According to a columnĀ in The New York Times,…
April 10, 2018 Columns by Ed Tobias Lemtrada Round 2: My Drip Stops Here As you read this, I likely will be in the middle of, or finished with, my second round of Lemtrada (alemtuzumab). Hopefully, this will be the final round of this disease-modifying therapy (DMT), and the final MS treatment of any kind, for me. Though some have required more,…
October 20, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD #MSParis2017 – Alkermes to Give Updates on ALKS 8700 Studies at ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting Alkermes will showcase its work in developing a treatment that harnesses the effect of Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) for relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS), while lowering the risk of stomach problems at the 7th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting this month in Paris. The investigational drug, ALKS 8700, uses the same mechanism of action as Tecfidera. By building the molecule in a different way, however, the company expects it will show better tolerability. Once in the body, dimethyl fumarate turns into monomethyl fumarate (MMF), the molecule that actually impacts MS disease processes. But before giving rise to MMF,Ā dimethyl can cause side effects in users, particularly gastrointestinal. In fact, stomach problem were what causedĀ people in Tecfidera Phase 3 trials to stop the treatment. Alkermes uses a so-called prodrug approach to try to overcome this problem. By attaching a different compound to MMF āĀ which breaks away from the molecule once in the body ā Ā it is possible to deliver MMF with lesser gastrointestinal side effects, Phase 1 study data indicate. At the meeting, the company will present two posters on two clinical trials exploring ALKS 8700 in patients with relapsing-remitting MS. The first presentation, will describe a Phase 3 trial that aims to compare ALKS 8700 to Tecfidera in about 420 patients. The trial is primarily concerned with the drugās safety, and will measure the occurrence and impact of gastrointestinal side effects in the two treatment groups. The presentation will only include descriptions of patients characteristics and study design, as outcomes are yet to be analyzed. Patients who complete the Phase 3 trial will be eligible to continue in an ongoing open-label, long-term safety study, called EVOLVE-MS-1, covered in the companyās second presentation. By March 3, 2017, the study had enrolled 543 patients. In addition to describing patient characteristics, researchers will present the rates of discontinuation caused by gastrointestinal adverse events within one month of starting the treatment.
October 16, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Aubagio May Cause Nail Loss, Researchers Report Aubagio (teriflunomide) may lead to reversible nail loss, researchers at Italy'sĀ University of BolognaĀ reported after reviewing the case of a 55-year-old woman with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. They described what happened to a patient who was referred to an MS clinic after experiencing acute optic neuritis ā or inflammation of the optic nerve ā three months earlier.Ā Their report, āNail loss after teriflunomide treatment: A new potential adverse event,āĀ was published in the journal Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders. Doctors had been treating the woman with intravenous methylprednisolone. Physicians had judged her slightly disabled, with an Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score of 3, but had not diagnosed her with MS. When she was diagnosed a few months later, she began receiving interferon beta-1a. It did not work, so doctors switched her to Sanofi Genzyme'sĀ Aubagio. At first, she tolerated the treatment well, having only slight nausea after taking the medication. Physicians did not detect signs of liver toxicity or high blood pressure, which are relatively common side effects of Aubagio. Roughly three months after starting the medication, however, the woman began having more trouble walking problems and had mild hair loss. Two and a half months later, she said her nails had started falling out in the past month. When doctors examined her, she had lost two nails, while others appeared to have stopped growing. They were thinner than normal and some had detached from the nail bed. In addition, her hair loss continued. She had not started using other drugs, new cosmetics, or changed her diet. A dermatologist excluded the possibility that the condition was the result of fungus, psoriasis, or other conditions that could cause nails to fall off. Because doctors suspected that Aubagio could be the cause of the nail loss, they recommended that she stopped taking it. The patient switched to Biogen'sĀ Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) after a couple of weeks, and her nails started to grow again. This supported doctorsā idea that Aubagio had caused the nail loss, and that it was reversible. Nail growth is similar to that of hair, researchers said. The patientās reaction could be an unusual version of the same process that makes people lose their hair when taking Aubagio, they said. Since nail loss is not described as a side effect of Aubagio on the medication's label, researchers urged MS specialists to consider the possibility if they see patients with the problem. Ā
August 11, 2017 Columns by John Connor Walk This Way As I write, I’m pain-free. This is important, but not for the obvious reason. I’m pain-free and can walk āĀ or at least stumble ā about as best as I’ve been able to manage of late. It’s not much, but I can be involved in family life and get…
July 13, 2017 Columns by Laura Kolaczkowski Ocrevus and Me, Part 2: Infusion Time and Side Effects Editor’s note: This column is second in a series. Read the first part here. Just you wait! How many times have we heard those words or said them to someone else? I find that now itās my turn to wait. What Iām waiting for is six months…
April 5, 2017 Columns by Judy Lynn If We Took a Holiday (from Our Meds) It Could Be So Nice! I was a teenager during the 1980s and cannot say the word āholidayā without Madonna’s song playing briefly in my head. For most holidays the perky music seems okay, but for discussion of a “drug holiday”Ā it feels a bit off. Sort of like, āYay! You have a chronic…
April 3, 2017 News by Patricia Silva, PhD What Every MS Patient Should Know About Ocrevus and Its Use With the recent approval of Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) for both primary progressive and relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS), interest in the medication is peaking.Ā To helpĀ readers of Multiple Sclerosis News TodayĀ better understandĀ this new medication and how it works, as well issues dealingĀ with access, use, and potential side effects, here is aĀ summary…
March 2, 2017 Columns by admin Ocrevus: Counting Down to Expected FDA Approval There is now less than a month until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to approve Ocrevus, generic name ocrelizumab, for use as a therapy for multiple sclerosis. Clinical trials have shown Genentechās drug to be a promising therapy for relapsing MS and, significantly,…
February 22, 2017 News by Joana Fernandes, PhD New Compound, BIIB074, May Ease Trigeminal Neuralgia Pain with Fewer Side Effects, Study Says Treatment with a compound called BIIB074 shows promise in reducing pain caused by trigeminal neuralgia ā a Ā condition that occasionallyĀ affects multiple sclerosis (MS) patients ā with few side effects, a new clinical trial finds. The Swiss study, āSafety and efficacy of a Nav1.7 selective sodium channel blockerĀ in Titrigeminal neuralgia:…
February 8, 2017 Columns by Judy Lynn Interferon Hangovers: Managing Treatment Side Effects Interferons (Beta and Alpha) are the oldest of the disease-modifying treatments, or DMTs, for people with MS. Interferons include Avonex, Betaseron, Rebif, and Plegridy. This column wonāt get into the pros and cons of each of these treatments. Instead, Iād like to focus on one of the more…