Denise I. Campagnolo, MD, MS––Director Clinical Multiple Sclerosis Research, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix,
Arizona; Timothy L.Vollmer, MD–– VanDenburgh Fellow, Director BNI Neuroimmunology Program, Barrow Neurological
Institute, Phoenix, Arizona
Key Words:
Antigens – Any substance that provokes an immune response. Ideally, the antigen is a foreign substance, like a protein made by a bacterium. Sometimes T cells inappropriately react with [...]

Amie Pena, NP––Barrow Neurology Clinics, Phoenix, Arizona
Introduction
As patients and caregivers we are all aware that multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex, chronic disease. Just a few decades ago, the outlook for patients with MS was poor and there were no treatments to help reduce disease progression. Many patients were told, “You have MS and there [...]

FDA is issuing this public health advisory to inform patients and health care providers about the suspended marketing of Tysabri (natalizumab) due to two serious adverse events reported with its use.

Stacy Oswald, BS, MSQR Coorinator – Barrow Neurological Institute; and Timothy Vollmer, MD, Chief, Neuroimmunology Section – Division of Neurology and Director – Barrow MS and Related Diseases Clinic and Research Center, Phoenix, AZ
Rebif® is the most recent of three interferon drugs to be FDA-approved for use in slowing the progression of multiple sclerosis [...]

Craig H. Smith, MD, MS Hub Medical Group, Seattle, WA
Multiple sclerosis (MS) has not been cured, but in recent years several medications have become available that can slow its progression. Even so, many patients eventually enter a stage of progressive deterioration that has been very difficult to treat. Two years ago the Food and Drug [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Harris E. Foster, Jr., MD, Associate Professor of Surgery (Urology), Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
Progress to Date
As the ads for adult urinary pads discretely imply, bladder control problems are uncomfortable and potentially embarrassing, unfortunately, bladder symptoms are very common in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Up to 80% of patients with [...]

Randall T. Shapiro, MD, Director, Fairview Multiple Sclerosis Center, Minneapolis, MN
Progress to Date
For patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), fatigue and muscle weakness can make it difficult just to get out of bed. The increased immobility and pain of spasticity can make performing daily tasks even harder.
Spasticity is a condition in [...]