Multiple Sclerosis News and Research

Latest Multiple Sclerosis News and Research

NEJM publishes results from Teva's laquinimod Phase III study on RRMS

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Active Biotech today announced the publication of results from the laquinimod Phase III ALLEGRO study in the March 15 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

16 Mar 2012

Women with retinopathy more likely to have cognitive problems

People with mild vascular disease that causes damage to the retina in the eye are more likely to have problems with thinking and memory skills because they may also have vascular disease in the brain, according to a study published in the March 14, 2012, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

15 Mar 2012

State budget burdens, cost-cutting efforts focus on health programs

Burdened by budget deficits, states are cutting health programs to the chagrin of some. But others say the economic downturn has allowed states to take up long-term economic problems they wouldn't have addressed otherwise.

14 Mar 2012

Warm weather may hinder cognitive performance in people with multiple sclerosis

Warm weather may hinder cognitive performance in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to results of a Kessler Foundation study e-published online ahead of print by Neurology. An accompanying editorial by Meier & Christodoulou, MS and heat: The smoke and the fire, details the study's unique aspects, ie, longitudinal followup in a cohort with apparently quiescent disease.

14 Mar 2012

FDA approves Botox injections for overactive bladder

When you think of Botox injections, you probably think of getting rid of unwanted wrinkles around the eyes or forehead, but recently the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved using the injections to help patients with neurological conditions who suffer from incontinence, or an overactive bladder.

14 Mar 2012

Botox - a potential for therapy of weak bladders in women

The study, published in the journal European Urology, was carried out at eight uro-gynecology centers in the UK from 2006 to 2009 by researchers from the University of Leicester. A total of 240 women were split into two groups, with 122 women given Botox and 118 receiving a dummy treatment. Researchers found improvements across a range of symptoms, including wetting oneself and feeling a need to rush to the toilet, and how often the women 'leaked' urine.

13 Mar 2012

FTY720 improves locomotor recovery in mice with SCI

A new study suggests that administering FTY720, an oral drug that has shown promise in trials for human multiple sclerosis, significantly improves locomotor recovery in mice with spinal cord injury.

13 Mar 2012

JAK-STAT inhibitors reverse MS-like disease in mice

A new class of drugs completing clinical trials soon for rheumatoid arthritis should be examined as a treatment for multiple sclerosis, according to the authors of a University of Alabama at Birmingham study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

13 Mar 2012

Connect during MS Awareness Week

Multiple sclerosis is a life altering disease that affects each person in a unique and different way. MS destroys connections, divides minds from bodies, pulls people from their lives and away from one another. Therefore, it's only fitting that connections would be its greatest enemy.

12 Mar 2012

Surgical intervention can be life-restoring for people with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy

While the thought of any type of surgery can be disconcerting, the thought of brain surgery can be downright frightening. But for people with a particular form of epilepsy, surgical intervention can literally be life-restoring.

8 Mar 2012

MRF clinical trial to examine antigen-specific MS therapy

The Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF) announced today that its research might soon lead into a clinical proof-of-concept trial at the Department of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research (nims), University Hospital Zürich, Switzerland, and the Institute for Neuroimmunology and Clinical Multiple Sclerosis Research (inims) in Hamburg, Germany.

8 Mar 2012

Women with multiple pregnancies may have reduced risk of MS

Women who have multiple pregnancies may have a lower risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), according to research published in the March 7, 2012, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

8 Mar 2012

Pharmspective releases first knowledge management application: ClearView

Pharmspective, LLC today announced the release of its first knowledge management application - ClearView - specifically developed to analyze provisions in the health care reform law and their impact on key pharma customer decision makers who influence product adoption.

7 Mar 2012

Concert, Fast Forward partner to advance new approach to treat spasticity and pain in MS

Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Fast Forward, LLC, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's subsidiary devoted to bridging the gap between research and drug development, today announced a new collaboration to fund the preclinical advancement of C-21191, a deuterium-modified subtype-selective GABAA modulator developed by Concert with the therapeutic potential of treating spasticity and pain in multiple sclerosis (MS).

5 Mar 2012

AARDA hopes to educate public on autoimmune diseases during March

March is National Autoimmune Diseases Awareness Month, and the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) is working to educate the public on risk factors, prevalence, and the severe lack of awareness surrounding autoimmune diseases.

3 Mar 2012

Early surgical intervention stops seizures and improves quality of life

3 Mar 2012

Union County Commission honors KF scientist with Women of Excellence Award

Helen Genova, PhD, research scientist at Kessler Foundation, received a Women of Excellence Award in Health Sciences from the Union County Commission on the Status of Women. In the Foundation's Neuropsychology and Neuroscience Laboratory, she investigates the effects of multiple sclerosis (MS) and traumatic brain injury on cognitive function with grant funding.

3 Mar 2012

CLR01 blocks toxic aggregations of proteins in mouse model of Parkinson's

Millions of people suffer from Parkinson's disease, a disorder of the nervous system that affects movement and worsens over time. As the world's population ages, it's estimated that the number of people with the disease will rise sharply. Yet despite several effective therapies that treat Parkinson's symptoms, nothing slows its progression.

2 Mar 2012

Shipment of Fabrazyme commences from Genzyme's FDA-and-EMA-approved Framingham plant

Genzyme, a Sanofi company, today announced that it has begun shipping Fabrazyme (agalsidase beta) produced at its newly approved plant in Framingham, Massachusetts. As previously communicated, patients in the U.S. are now able to return to full dosing in March. In addition, all new patients in the U.S. are eligible to begin Fabrazyme treatment, at full dosing levels.

2 Mar 2012

Ekso Bionics, Kessler Foundation partner to test commercial robotic exoskeleton

On Monday, Kessler Foundation became the second rehabilitation research center in the U.S. to implement Ekso, a wearable, robotic battery-powered exoskeleton that allows wheelchair users with lower-extremity weakness to stand and walk.

2 Mar 2012