Medical News

Patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) who were treated with ublituximab (TG Therapeutics, New York, NY) (n = 46) had rapid depletion of B cells, reduced disease activity on MRI, markedly lower relapse rate, and disability stability. Ublituximab (UTX) is a novel glycoengineered ...

After 24 weeks of treatment, patients treated with 75 mg of evobrutinib (EMD Serono, Rockland, MA) 2 or 4 times per day had significantly fewer T1 gadolinium-enhancing (Gd+) lesions compared with patients given placebo (P = .0313 for 1 dose/day, P =.0015 for 2 doses/day). Patients treated with 25 mg...

After 8 years of treatment with alemtuzumab (Lemtrada; Sanofi, Bridgewater, NJ), patients treated with 3 or more courses of the drug had an annualized relapse rate (ARR) of 0.18%, 85% of patients have been free of relapses, and 70% of patients had stable or improved scores on the Expanded Disabiliti...

Gene coexpression with transcriptome analysis, a measure of what genes are actually expressed in an individual, has been used to distinguish patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) from healthy control subjects. This analysis was also able to distinguish the pattern of distinct i...

Research suggests that as many as 43% of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) do not take a disease-modifying treatment (DMT) for the first 2 years of their diagnosis or longer. In a retrospective claims analysis using the IQVIA adjudicated claims database from June 2010 to June, 2017. 

A total of...

Analysis of genetic data from more than 94,000 people has revealed new risk genes for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and confirmed 20 known others. Researchers also reported that mutations in genes specific to tau protein might play an earlier role in the disease than previously thought. 

These new findi...

The Patient Impact Award from Life Sciences Pennsylvania pharmaceutical company will be recognized in March for the US launch of the first easy-to-swallow, thickened riluzole liquid (Tiglutek; ITF Pharma, Berwyn, PA) for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).  

The suspension liquid, which w...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted new marketing clearance for a device that provides acute and preventive treatment of migraine to include children 12 years of age and older.

The technology (sTMS; eNeura, Inc., Baltimore, MD) is a non-invasive device that uses single-pulse transcra...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared a radiofrequency (RF) nerve ablation system (Accurian; Medtronic, Dublin, Ireland) for the treatment of patients with chronic pain.  Nerve ablation with RF is a minimally invasive procedure that uses radio waves to produce a current that heats nerve...

Eligibility for a program that provides free genetic testing for epilepsy in young children has been expanded. The Behind the Seizure program, which had been available for patients age 2 to 4 years with a history of 1 or more unprovoked seizures, is now offered for children from birth to age 5 years...

A device that uses mild electrical currents on the scalp achieved positive results for treating patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. In an investigational study (NCT02866240), the currents from the device (Starsim; Neuroelectrics Corporation, Cambridge, MA) reduced seizure-like activity in the bra...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted an application for diroximel fumarate (BIIB098; Alkermes, Waltham, MA and Biogen, Cambridge, MA) for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). eb. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Alkermes plc (Nasdaq: ALKS) and Biogen Inc. (Nasdaq: BIIB...

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) with the Medtronic DBS System (Medtronic, Dublin, Ireland) was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last year and is now available in the US on a commercial basis. The first patient to receive the device commercially had it implanted at Emory University app...

The Food and Drug Administration has granted orphan drug status to verdiperstat (BHV-3241; Biohaven Pharmaceutical, New Haven, CT). Verdiperstat is a novel brain-penetrant myeloperoxidase (MPO) inhibitor being studied as a potential first-in-class treatment for multiple system atrophy (MSA). Verdipe...