Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

In this edition, Break Through Cancer awards $50M to fund a ‘radical collaboration’ in cancer research; the FDA grants a breakthrough device designation for an MS plasma test; App-based mental exercises may improve cognitive impairment; and more.

Most patients with relapsing-remitting MS who are stable on natalizumab every 4 weeks, can switch to a 6-week dosing regimen without losing efficacy, according to results of a clinical trial published in the Lancet Neurology.

Pregnancy-related MS relapses were associated with early natalizumab withdrawal among women before and during pregnancy, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.

Researchers found an association between differences in treatment strategies for relapsing-remitting MS and disability outcomes at a national level, according to results of a cohort study published in JAMA Neurology.

The correlation between age and contrast-enhancing lesions “is a general phenomenon” across the MS spectrum of disease, according to an analysis of four large, randomized controlled trials published in Neurology.

Treatment for relapsing-remitting MS improved in a “clinically meaningful” way between 2010 and 2018, in part due to the availability of new, primarily oral disease-modifying therapies, according to findings published in BMJ Open Access.

Rituximab modulated retinal atrophy in relapsing-remitting MS, with attenuating effects that may be more significant after 12 months of treatment, according to results of an observational study published in Neurology.

Patients who received ponesimod for relapsing MS saw a greater reduction in the annualized relapse rate compared with patients who received teriflunomide, according to results from a randomized clinical trial published in JAMA Neurology.

The FDA has approved ponesimod, a once-daily oral selective sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 modulator, to treat adults with relapsing forms of MS, Janssen announced in a press release.