treatment

Oral administration of trehalose — a sugar molecule found in plants and fungi and reported to have neuroprotective effects — eased symptoms and halted disease progression in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS). These benefits were associated with a restoration of the ability of microglia (the brain’s immune cells) to break down…

Aslan Pharmaceuticals announced it will develop Aslan003, a potent and highly selective next-generation modulator of the immune system, as a potential therapy for autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Aslan003 is a small molecule blocking the human enzyme dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH). This enzyme is believed to reduce…

Eli Lilly has reached an agreement to acquire Disarm Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing a new class of disease-modifying treatments for patients with axonal degeneration, including those with multiple sclerosis (MS). In its announcement, Lilly committed to advancing Disarm’s prospective therapies, currently in preclinical development.

Helius Medical Technologies partnered with Breakthrough Health on a project focused on understanding how people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the U.S. evaluate the therapies at their disposal in terms of how well they help their ability to walk. The collaboration will take advantage of an MS companion application, called…

Mayzent (siponimod) has become the first oral medication to be approved for people with active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) in England and Wales. Following this decision by England’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) — which reversed its opinion announced in June — the…

Scientists developed a new therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS) that prevents immune cells from exiting the lymph nodes and entering the spinal cord of mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) — a condition that mimics MS in humans. The therapy, which consists of a…

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has approved Mayzent (siponimod) for the treatment of active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) in Scotland. Mayzent, developed by Novartis, is a tablet taken once daily to counter a person’s disability progression. SPMS gradually develops from relapsing-remitting MS, and is…

Prior treatment with disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) does not affect the long-term benefits of Aubagio (teriflunomide) in treating relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a review study. The study, “Prior treatment status: impact on the efficacy and safety of teriflunomide in multiple sclerosis,”…

When I was first diagnosed with MS, I didn’t have a choice about what disease-modifying therapy (DMT) I could take. My neurologist held up his hand and pointed one by one to each finger, with each…

Human placental extract eased clinical symptoms, inflammation, and weight and myelin loss in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS), a study reported.  Its researchers proposed that placental extracts be investigated as a way of better managing MS symptoms in people. …

Gilenya and Tecfidera Similarly Effective at Treating RRMS, Real-world Study Says Gilenya and Tecfidera are both oral disease-modifying therapies. Both meds attempt to limit the inflammatory action of the immune system. Both now have generic versions. And as this story reports, neither appears to have a leg up over…

A search is on for an anti-inflammatory treatment targeting the C-reactive protein — CRP, a biomarker of inflammation produced by the liver — of possible use in a wide variety of conditions, including immune-mediated diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Researchers at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute and the…

Oral administration of N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) — a natural simple sugar sold as a dietary supplement — prevents myelin degeneration and loss of motor function in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS). Myelin, the protective sheath around nerve fibers that helps to speed transmission of signals between nerve cells, is damaged…

Health Canada has approved Zeposia (ozanimod), an oral daily treatment for people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) in the country. Approval does not assure that Zeposia will be available to Canadian patients at no or low cost, as publicly funded prescription plans are largely administered by each…

Lupin‘s generic equivalent of Tecfidera has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS), the company announced in a press release. The therapy — dimethyl fumarate delayed-release capsules — is indicated for use in people with clinically…

Rituximab, an investigational B-cell depletion therapy that target CD20 to treat people with multiple sclerosis (MS), has significant effects on the characteristics of B-cells that return after treatment is stopped, with cells being less mature yet more activated toward a pro-inflammatory state, a study showed. Treatment also…

Gilenya (fingolimod) and Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) are similarly effective at lowering the frequency of relapses and delaying disability progression in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a real-world study from Switzerland reported. These efficacy measures were also consistent whether patients were new to a disease-modifying therapy (DMT)…

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has awarded a two-year, $373,000 Fast Forward grant to researchers at the University of California Riverside School of Medicine to identify compounds best able to replace myelin lost over the course of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a press release.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Cipla’s dimethyl fumarate capsules, a generic version of Biogen’s Tecfidera, to treat adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), the company announced in a press release. This generic is packaged as 120 mg or 240 mg…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted an investigational new drug application (IND) for ANK-700, a treatment candidate for multiple sclerosis (MS) that is being developed by the Swiss company Anokion. With this approval, Anokion can enter clinical testing and is planning to…

Regulatory T-cells (Tregs) — immune cells that normally dampen immune and inflammatory responses by inhibiting the activity of pro-inflammatory immune cells — enabled mice in a model of multiple sclerosis to partly recover from limb and tail paralysis, scientists reported. Tregs can do this by preventing a subtype of…

People in Texas with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other medical conditions now have access to cannabis-infused lozenges, Surterra Texas announced. Under a Texas Compassionate Use Program, cannabis-containing therapies may be prescribed to help treat various neurological and other disorders, including terminal cancer, spasticity,…

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a $2.3 million grant to a bioengineer at Indiana University’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering to improve diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS). The project aims to find ways to detect disease-associated cells based on their ability…

Among oral sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulators for multiple sclerosis (MS), Novartis’s Gilenya (fingolimod) remains physicians’ favorite in the U.S., but prescriptions of recently-launched Bristol Myers Squibb’s Zeposia (ozanimod) are beginning to rise, according to a survey conducted by Spherix Global Insights. Also, COVID-19 not…

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is expensive. Even with good insurance, those of us living in a country without universal healthcare have significant out-of-pocket costs for our treatments and medications. Some of these costs may not be covered at all. MS can put us into some serious debt, and it happens to…

AB Science’s lead candidate masitinib safely and effectively delays disability progression in people with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) and non-active secondary progressive MS (SPMS), according to top-line data from a clinical trial. The therapy was found to significantly lower the risk of first and confirmed (three-month) disability progression, and to reduce…

Long-term treatment with Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) continues to be safe and effective at reducing the frequency of relapses and disability progression in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), according to 13-year data from a Phase 3 extension study. The study findings were presented at MSVirtual2020 by Ralf…

Continuous treatment with Aubagio (teriflunomide) can safely lower the risk of relapses and disability progression in children with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to interim data from the open-label extension of a Phase 3 trial. These findings were detailed at MSVirtual2020 by Tanuja Chitnis, MD,…

Most children and adolescents with pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (POMS), especially those treated intravenously with a disease-modifying therapy (DMT), achieve no evidence of disease activity within two years of diagnosis, according to a real-life study from the U.S. Patients whose DMTs are infused into a vein (intravenous treatment) are more likely…

Early use of high efficacy disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) is more effective than the traditional approach — that of an escalating treatment regimen — at delaying disability progression in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), a real-life study from Italy reports. People later moving to more aggressive treatment also appeared…