The MS Wire — Ed Tobias

Are you tired? Really tired? Me, too. Most of us with multiple sclerosis are. How many is most? A small new study of 44 people with one of the progressive forms of MS found that the answer is…

FDA Extends Review of Ofatumumab for Relapsing MS to September The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was expected to make a decision about ofatumumab, a self-administered injection of a monoclonal antibody, by this month. Now, it looks…

By my unofficial count, disease-modifying therapy No. 19 has just become available to people with multiple sclerosis in the U.S. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Zeposia (ozanimod) in late March. While pharmaceutical companies usually rush…

Air Pollution of Urban Life Raises MS Risk, Study from Italy Suggests I grew up in New York City. It’s hard to get more urban than that. There weren’t many factories spewing pollution, but…

As I sit down to write this week’s column, it’s hard for me to concentrate. I’d planned to write about new MS mobile apps, but I can’t get my brain to focus on the task. I’ve been bragging about…

Higher Risk of Vascular Disease Among MS Patients in the UK, Population-based Study Reveals You’d think that people with multiple sclerosis (MS) would be likely to have vascular disease due to the sedentary lifestyles many of us lead.

My favorite line in the “Downton Abbey” TV series, uttered by the dowager played by Maggie Smith, is “What’s a weekend?” When you’re retired, if you’re working as a freelancer, or if like me you’re doing both, it’s easy…

COVID-19 May Not Be Severe in MS Patients, Early Data from Italy Suggest Keep in mind that COVID-19 information is dynamic. New data about this illness appear every day. But all information I’ve seen so far agrees with…

More support has been added to the belief that a link exists between the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and multiple sclerosis (MS). Epstein-Barr is one of the most common viruses, and most people become infected with it at some…

FDA Approves Bafiertam, Tecfidera Bioequivalent, for Relapsing MS This is the second disease-modifying therapy (DMT) OK’d by the FDA in the past few months. Bafiertam is a delayed-release pill that’s similar to Tecfidera, but it’s said that it…

I love it when a multiple sclerosis treatment works well for someone. It doesn’t matter if that treatment is a medication, a form of physical therapy, or a diet. Good news is good news. So, when I saw this…

New Nanosensor May Help to Diagnose MS at Early Stages My neurologist likes to say that “brain is time.” The sooner MS is treated the more time you can buy before the brain begins to deteriorate and MS…

I canceled my April blood draw. The protocol for Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) requires lab work each month because the treatment can have serious side effects. But I spoke with my neurologist and we decided that I could skip it. Blame…

Shorter Ocrevus Infusion Time Up for Approval in US and Europe One of the drawbacks to infusion therapies is the time a patient spends in a recliner receiving the medication. For Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), nearly half a day is…

It’s comforting to have this guy, with his floppy ears, stretched out next to me as I sit here writing. I don’t know why, but the fact that Joey, who is really my wife Laura’s cocker spaniel, has chosen…

Fampyra, Aid for Walking, Favored for Inclusion in NHS Scotland I used Ampyra, as Fampyra is known in the U.S., for about a year. It improved my walking a little, but I had to…

Are people with MS more susceptible than the average person to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19? And if COVID-19 attacks them, what’s the likely course of their illness? What about COVID-19 and disease-modifying therapies? Doctors from around the…

New Database to Compile COVID-19 Data About People with MS and Related Diseases There are databases in the U.K. and other parts of Europe for tracking people with MS who have tested positive for…

Happy Lemtrada anniversary to me! It’s been two years since I completed my second round of Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) infusions, and I’m happy to say that the results have been good. Not everyone’s experience with Lemtrada will mirror mine, but…

Regular Exercise ‘Strongly Recommended’ to Ease Fatigue in MS This may seem like a no-brainer. But once upon a time, neurologists told people with MS to avoid exercise. They told us it would overheat…