Multiple Sclerosis News and Research RSS Feed - Multiple Sclerosis News and Research

Multiple Sclerosis is an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system, multiple sclerosis (MS) can range from relatively benign to somewhat disabling to devastating, as communication between the brain and other parts of the body is disrupted. Many investigators believe MS to be an autoimmune disease - one in which the body, through its immune system, launches a defensive attack against its own tissues. In the case of MS, it is the nerve-insulating myelin that comes under assault. Such assaults may be linked to an unknown environmental trigger, perhaps a virus.
FDA accepts Teva Pharmaceutical's sNDA for COPAXONE

FDA accepts Teva Pharmaceutical's sNDA for COPAXONE

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted for review the company's supplemental new drug application for COPAXONE (glatiramer acetate injection) 40mg/ 1mL, a higher concentration dose of COPAXONE that offers a less frequent three times a week dosing regimen administered subcutaneously for patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. [More]
Cancer: The No. 1 health concern among middle-income Americans

Cancer: The No. 1 health concern among middle-income Americans

Cancer is the No. 1 health concern among our country's middle-income Americans, according to a new study released by Washington National Institute for Wellness Solutions. [More]

Research data on AMPYRA Extended Release Tablets to be presented at CMSC and ACTRIMS meeting

Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. will present new research data on AMPYRA (dalfampridine) Extended Release Tablets, 10 mg at the 5th Cooperative Meeting of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers and Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis, being held in Orlando, FL, May 29 - June 1. [More]
Exposure to bug or weed killers is associated with higher risk of Parkinson's disease

Exposure to bug or weed killers is associated with higher risk of Parkinson's disease

A large analysis of more than 100 studies from around the world shows that exposure to pesticides, or bug and weed killers, and solvents is likely associated with a higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease. The research appears in the May 28, 2013, print issue of Neurology-, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. [More]
Synthetic compound derived from sea anemone toxin shows potential to treat obesity

Synthetic compound derived from sea anemone toxin shows potential to treat obesity

Scientists at UC Irvine reported this week that a synthetic compound ShK-186, originally derived from a sea anemone toxin, has been found to enhance metabolic activity and shows potential as a treatment for obesity and insulin resistance. [More]
New AAN guideline provides direction for use of blood thinners during surgery

New AAN guideline provides direction for use of blood thinners during surgery

A new guideline from the American Academy of Neurology will help people who take blood thinners decide whether or not to take them during surgery or other medical procedures. [More]
GATA-3 protein plays an important role in mammalian immune response

GATA-3 protein plays an important role in mammalian immune response

The protein GATA-3 plays an important role in mammalian immune response, but its overall function in cell development and cancer formation is not well understood. In an effort to further define the importance of GATA-3, researchers at the University of North Carolina have traced how the protein performs important functions in CD8+T-cell type of the immune system. [More]
Newly discovered immune protein has potential  to stop or reverse type 1 diabetes

Newly discovered immune protein has potential to stop or reverse type 1 diabetes

Melbourne researchers have identified an immune protein that has the potential to stop or reverse the development of type 1 diabetes in its early stages, before insulin-producing cells have been destroyed. [More]

Biogen Idec seeks FDA BLA approval for PLEGRIDY to treat multiple sclerosis

Today Biogen Idec announced it has submitted a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval of PLEGRIDY (peginterferon beta-1a), the company's pegylated subcutaneous injectable candidate for relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (RMS). [More]

XenoPort's Arbaclofen placarbil fails to meet co-primary endpoints in Phase 3 clinical trial

XenoPort, Inc. announced today top-line results from its pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial of arbaclofen placarbil for the treatment of patients with spasticity due to multiple sclerosis. [More]

Television actor hosts latest free patient education DVD and guidebook on epilepsy

Television actor and "Dancing with the Stars" winner John O'Hurley is the host of Epilepsy: A Guide for Patients and Families, the latest free patient education DVD and guidebook produced by the American Academy of Neurology and its foundation, the American Brain Foundation. [More]
UC Davis scientists detect novel molecular target for multiple sclerosis

UC Davis scientists detect novel molecular target for multiple sclerosis

Working with lab mice models of multiple sclerosis, UC Davis scientists have detected a novel molecular target for the design of drugs that could be safer and more effective than current FDA-approved medications against MS. [More]

Insero Health announces top-line Phase Ib trial results of INS001 in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy

Insero Health, Inc., a company developing natural compounds to address unmet medical needs in epilepsy and related neurological disorders, is today reporting top-line results from a Phase Ib trial of its lead compound INS001 in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. [More]
Research: People with skin cancer may be less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease

Research: People with skin cancer may be less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease

People who have skin cancer may be less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, according to new research published in the May 15, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The link does not apply to melanoma, a less common but more aggressive type of skin cancer. [More]
Research breakthrough: Human skin cells becomes embryonic stem cells

Research breakthrough: Human skin cells becomes embryonic stem cells

Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University and the Oregon National Primate Research Center have successfully reprogrammed human skin cells to become embryonic stem cells capable of transforming into any other cell type in the body. [More]

Implications for manipulating immune response for some inflammatory disorders

Cytokines are molecules produced by immune cells that induce the migration of other cells to sites of infection or injury, promote the production of anti-microbial agents, and signal the production of inflammatory mediators. [More]
Cancers physically alter cells in lymphatic system to promote the spread of disease

Cancers physically alter cells in lymphatic system to promote the spread of disease

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center report that cancers physically alter cells in the lymphatic system - a network of vessels that transports and stores immune cells throughout the body - to promote the spread of disease, a process called metastasis. [More]

Drug cost disparities, small business worries continue to surround health law's implementation

The Associated Press reports on the emergence of concerns regarding the health law and drug cost disparities. Meanwhile, other news outlets report on how employers continue to have angst about the measure's price tag. [More]

Biogen Idec announces FDA's acceptance of ELOCTATE BLA for treatment of hemophilia A

Biogen Idec announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted the company's Biologics License Application for the marketing approval of ELOCTATE (recombinant factor VIII Fc fusion protein) for the treatment of hemophilia A. [More]
Researchers find a way the body can remove injured axons

Researchers find a way the body can remove injured axons

Many medical issues affect nerves, from injuries in car accidents and side effects of chemotherapy to glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. The common theme in these scenarios is destruction of nerve axons, the long wires that transmit signals to other parts of the body, allowing movement, sight and sense of touch, among other vital functions. [More]