Olympia Hadjimichael, MPH, Coordinator , NARCOMS Project, Yale Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research , Yale University School of Medicine and VA Connecticut Healthcare System , West Haven , CT
Bladder symptoms are very common among people with multiple sclerosis (MS), because MS can affect the nerves responsible for urinary control. In the previous issue [...]

According to a study presented at the 2002 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, mitoxantrone, a chemical routinely used to fight breast cancer, leukemia, and malignant lymphoma, dramatically decreases disease activity in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) for at least 4 years.
Induction therapy, frequently used against cancers, is designed to wipe out abnormal [...]

Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc., of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, announced in February that it would not be continuing development of micellar paclitaxel (also known as Paxceed®) as a possible treatment for secondary progressive MS. The company said the drug, “failed to meet statistical significance” in a double blind, placebo-controlled treatment trial. The study involved 174 people with [...]

According to a recently published study, relatives of patients with MS have a higher risk of developing MS than the general population. The study to evaluate risk involved 30 relatives of patients at the Department of Neurology, Medical Academy in Lodz, Poland, and the Department of Neuroscience, Scientific Institute and University Ospedale San Raffaele, in [...]

A study at the Florida State University has discovered an unusual brain enzyme that may contribute to MS. Research focused on the enzyme known myelencephalon-specific pro enzyme. The enzyme, which relatively new discovery, is found in animals and humans. Results of the study indicate that the enzyme attacks proteins and myelin-sheathed nerve cells brain, which [...]

Researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center recently reported on the association between regional measures of cortical atrophy and neuropsychological (NP) dysfunction found in a study of 35 patients with MS.
Patients underwent neurological examination, MRI, and NP testing. Blind quantitative MRI analysis yielded total [...]

A double blind clinical trial of mitoxantrone versus methylprednisolone was performed in 49 Belgian patients with relapsing, secondary MS. Patients were randomized to receive 13 infusions of mitoxantrone 12 mg/m2 ( 2 8 patients) or 13 infusions of 1g of methylprednisolone (21 patients), over 32 months. Twenty-four patients completed the trial.
There were no [...]

Sexual dysfunction is a highly prevalent symptom of MS with little published research on effective treatments. A pilot study at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY, tested the efficacy of a counseling intervention in 9 couples utilizing a quasi-experimental research design. The intervention consisted of 12 counseling sessions, communication [...]

Studies in mice suggest that popular cholesterol-lowering statin drugs might someday double as treatment for MS. Mice prone to an MS-like disease showed reversal or prevention of symptoms after being fed doses of Lipitor® (atorvastatin), according to researcher Dr. Sawsan Youssef of Stanford University in California.
Previous studies have suggested that the statin class of [...]

A 29-year-old man with MS is the second patient to undergo transplantation surgery at Yale in an effort to repair myelin. The surgery took place in two stages on March 6–7 and the patient was discharged on March 10. The young man is the second of five patients who are scheduled to participate [...]

While glatiramer acetate (Copaxone®), has long been known to slow or stop the progression of attacks in patients with MS, researchers have not known exactly how the drug worked. In the March issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, a University of Texas group reports that glatiramer acetate appears to stimulate a certain type of [...]

Researchers have found a new therapy that can alleviate the fatigue that often accompanies MS. Many therapies have been developed to treat symptoms of MS, but few have helped, to any degree, the excessive and debilitating fatigue that is characteristic of MS. Now researchers have found that modafinil, also known as Provigil®‚ significantly increased [...]

A Rockefeller University research team led by Sidney Strickland has reported the identification of the blood clotting factor fibrin as a critical protein in the regulation of regeneration of the myelin sheath following injury. MS is characterized by damage to nerve fibers’ “myelin sheaths,” the thick layers of specialized insulating cells that normally wrap [...]

In late April, Copaxone (glatiramer acetate) became available in a pre-filled, ready-to-use syringe – the first one approved by the FDA in the US. For persons with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), this innovation may mean less time and effort spent on preparing injections and more time to do the things they enjoy.
Kansas City-based Teva [...]

In early March the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Serono’s Rebif® (interferon beta-1a) for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), thereby breaking the orphan status of Biogen’s Avonex®‚ (interferon beta-1a). The two drugs are similar.
The approval of Rebif® was based upon data from the PRISMS study and the head-to-head EVIDENCE [...]

News Flash From the American Academy of Neurology (AAN)
There is a potential new treatment for people with severe cases of MS, according to research presented during the American Academy of Neurology’s 54th Annual Meeting in Denver in April. The new treatment involves removing stem cells from the patients’ blood, killing the cells that are working [...]

Expert Consultant
Andrew D. Goodman, MD, Department of Neurology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY
Progress to Date
Since multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions seem to be caused by immune attacks, one likely explanation for MS is that it is an autoimmune disease; that is, a disease in which the immune system incorrectly identifies one of the body’s [...]

Timothy L. Vollmer, MD, Director, Yale Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research, Yale University School of Medicine, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, New Haven, CT; Olympia Hadjimichael, MPH, Coordinator, NARCOMS Project, Yale Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research, Yale University School of Medicine, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, New Haven, CT
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is [...]

Expert Consultant
Harris E. Foster, Jr., MD, Associate Professor of Surgery (Urology), Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
Progress to Date
Bladder problems are common in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), affecting up to 90% to 100% of patients during the course of their disease (Foster, 2002). Patients may have trouble with holding their urine (incontinence) [...]