Spasticity News and Research

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Spasticity is a condition involving an involuntary increase in muscle tone that leads to resistance against normal movements of the body and may cause pain in some individuals.

Almirall and GKV-SV reach agreement on pricing of Sativex medicine in Germany

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23 Sep 2013

Free reference and lifestyle tool now available for people affected by paralysis

For the first time, individuals living with paralysis and their caregivers can access the comprehensive Paralysis Resource Guide digitally on their smartphone, Nook, iPad or Kindle. The third edition of this vital resource, compiled and distributed by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Paralysis Resource Center, is a free reference and lifestyle tool for people affected by paralysis.

4 Sep 2013

UCLA researchers receives $13M Early Translational grants to advance innovative discoveries using stem cells

Four researchers from UCLA's Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research have received Early Translational Research Awards totaling approximately $13 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state's stem cell agency. The UCLA researchers received four of the 12 total awards; no other institution received more than one.

4 Sep 2013

Stem cell researchers receive Early Translational research awards from CIRM

Four prominent researchers from UCLA's Eli & Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research have received Early Translational research awards totaling approximately $13 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) the state stem cell agency. The UCLA researchers received four of the 12 total awards; no other applicant institution received more than one award.

30 Aug 2013

GW Pharmaceuticals to expand marketing authorization for Sativex to France

GW Pharmaceuticals plc, a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing novel therapeutics from its proprietary cannabinoid product platform, announced that it has submitted an application under the European Mutual Recognition Procedure seeking to expand the marketing authorization for Sativex into France for the treatment of spasticity due to Multiple Sclerosis.

22 Jul 2013

Concert Pharmaceuticals announces initiation of CTP-354 Phase 1 trial in healthy volunteers

Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has initiated a Phase 1 clinical trial with CTP-354. CTP-354 is a novel GABAA receptor subtype-selective modulator that has demonstrated no sedation at therapeutic doses in preclinical models in contrast to existing GABAA receptor non-selective agonists, such as benzodiazepines.

10 Jun 2013

Study sheds light on origin of wide range of brain disorders

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have uncovered a mechanism that guides the exquisite wiring of neural circuits in a developing brain -- gaining unprecedented insight into the faulty circuits that may lead to brain disorders ranging from autism to mental retardation.

10 Jun 2013

Majority of children with spastic cerebral palsy experience long-term benefits of SDR

Selective dorsal rhizotomy is a surgical procedure used to treat spasticity in some children with spastic cerebral palsy. This procedure appears to be effective, but for how long? Researchers from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, set out to find the answer to this question by studying data from the McGill University Rhizotomy Database on 102 pediatric patients with long-term follow-up.

29 May 2013

Human foetal stem cell therapy improves structural integrity of the spine

Human foetal stem cell grafts improve both motor and sensory functions in rats suffering from a spinal cord injury, according to research published this week in BioMed Central's open access journal Stem Cell Research and Therapy.

28 May 2013

Single injection of human neural stem cells improves acute spinal cord injuries in rats

An international team led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reports that a single injection of human neural stem cells produced neuronal regeneration and improvement of function and mobility in rats impaired by an acute spinal cord injury.

28 May 2013

Bochum's medics use autologous cord blood to treat infantile cerebral palsy

Bochum's medics have succeeded in treating cerebral palsy with autologous cord blood. Following a cardiac arrest with severe brain damage, a 2.5 year old boy had been in a persistent vegetative state - with minimal chances of survival. Just two months after treatment with the cord blood containing stem cells, the symptoms improved significantly; over the following months, the child learned to speak simple sentences and to move.

24 May 2013

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.

20 May 2013

Nearly 1/10 stroke patients suffer from chronic and debilitating pain

Nearly 1 in 10 stroke patients suffer chronic and debilitating pain, typically described as sharp, stabbing or burning. It's called central poststroke pain syndrome (CPSP). It was first described more than 100 years ago, and it is treatable with medications and magnetic or electrical stimulation of the brain.

9 May 2013

Peripheral neuropathic pain patch treatments: an interview with Anne Hodgkins, Astellas Pharma

Peripheral neuropathic pain is caused by lesion or disease to the peripheral somatosensory nervous system. Nerve damage that can lead to peripheral neuropathic pain can happen as a result of a range of different diseases, medications or traumatic injuries.

8 May 2013

Discovery may lead to new treatment for neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative disorders

A key type of human brain cell developed in the laboratory grows seamlessly when transplanted into the brains of mice, UC San Francisco researchers have discovered, raising hope that these cells might one day be used to treat people with Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and possibly even Alzheimer's disease, as well as and complications of spinal cord injury such as chronic pain and spasticity.

5 May 2013

FES cycling associated with improvements in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury

A new study by Kennedy Krieger Institute's International Center for Spinal Cord Injury finds that long-term lower extremity functional electrical stimulation (FES) cycling, as part of a rehabilitation regimen, is associated with substantial improvements in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI).

5 Mar 2013

Children's Oakland recruits patients for deferiprone clinical trial to treat PKAN

A groundbreaking, international clinical trial of an iron chelation drug, deferiprone, to treat the rare and devastating neurodegenerative disease, pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN), began last month at the trial's only North American site, Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland.

17 Jan 2013

Child Neurology Society honors LSUHSC professor with 2012 Hower Award

The Child Neurology Society presented Ann Henderson Tilton, MD, Clinical Professor of Neurology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, with the 2012 Hower Award at the 41st Annual CNS Meeting in November.

29 Nov 2012

Breakthrough treatment for survivors of traumatic brain injury

The first treatment breakthrough of its kind for survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI) or stroke will be published in the December 1 issue of the journal CNS Drugs, with an accompanying editorial.

15 Nov 2012

Degeneration of serotonergic neurons linked to spasticity in ALS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease with an occurrence rate in France similar to multiple sclerosis (two to three new cases per year for every 100,000 residents). It has a specific affect on neurons responsible for motor control, in particular motor neurones and central motor neurones. The former, located in the spinal cord, are directly linked to muscles and are used for muscle contraction and stretching.

7 Nov 2012