U.S.

Helius Medical Technologies is collaborating with Lovell Government Services to make its PoNS device — designed to improve walking ability in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) — available to U.S. veterans and MS patients in other federal healthcare systems. The PoNS device, officially named the Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator, is…

Since their launch in the 2010s, the use of oral disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) for multiple sclerosis (MS) has increased substantially, while injectable DMTs have become less popular, according to a study based on U.S. commercial health insurance data. “While two injectable therapies known as platform injectables, were once the…

Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate), Gilenya (fingolimod), and Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) are losing ground to more recent therapies among U.S. multiple sclerosis (MS) patients switching treatment, according to the latest Spherix Global Insights’ report. The launch of MS generics, bioequivalents, and new brands in the U.S. market over the past year has increased…

In a nationwide survey of caregiver abuse and neglect among Americans with advanced multiple sclerosis (MS), more than half of respondents reported some form of mistreatment, with psychological and financial abuse being the most common. Having a caregiver with a mental illness was the greatest risk factor for mistreatment, the survey…

A likelihood of depression is two to three times higher in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in the U.S. and U.K. than in similar groups of people in these countries without the disease, a study reported. This risk was also “most evident in the first five years after MS diagnosis” among…

Records from the Kid’s Inpatient Database (KID) — the largest database of pediatric patients admitted to hospitals in the U.S. — show that more than twice as many girls as boys were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2016. The data shows that 259 boys and 610 girls younger than age 18…

Treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with rituximab leads to lower-than-reported mortality rates, according to a large real-world study in the U.S. and Sweden. The findings also revealed no deaths due to infusion reactions or to systemic inflammation. The study, “Mortality rates in large US and…

Scientists at the Pediatric MS Center at NYU Langone, New York, reported that U.S. adolescents with multiple sclerosis (MS) receiving interferon-beta 1a therapy had a higher body mass index (BMI), more relapses, and were managed differently compared to patients of similar age in seven other countries. The study, “Subcutaneous…