January 22, '10: FDA Approves: AMPYRA™ (dalfampridine) to Improve Walking in People with Multiple Sclerosis –
Category: M.S. Drug Therapy (A,B,C,R,+ other meds)
Posted by: stuart
Acorda Therapeutics Announces FDA Approval of
AMPYRA™ (dalfampridine) to Improve Walking in People with
Multiple Sclerosis – Demonstrated by Increases in Walking Speed
AMPYRA™ (dalfampridine) to Improve Walking in People with
Multiple Sclerosis – Demonstrated by Increases in Walking Speed
· First and Only FDA-Approved Therapy Addressing Walking Impairment
· AMPYRA Previously Referred to as Fampridine-SR
· AMPYRA Expected to be Available by Prescription in March 2010
· Acorda Conference Call Today at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time
HAWTHORNE, N.Y., January 22, 2010 – Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOR) today announced that it has received marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for AMPYRA™ (dalfampridine), an oral treatment to improve walking in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). This was demonstrated by an increase in walking speed. AMPYRA demonstrated efficacy in people with all four major types of MS (relapsing remitting, secondary progressive, progressive relapsing and primary progressive). AMPYRA can be used alone or with existing MS therapies, including immunomodulator drugs.
“The approval of AMPYRA marks an important milestone for the many people with MS who suffer walking impairment. Difficulty walking is often cited by those with MS as one of the most pervasive and challenging aspects of their disease,” said Ron Cohen, M.D., President and CEO of Acorda Therapeutics, adding “We are enormously gratified to have achieved approval for the only medication indicated to improve walking in people with MS, and we thank all of the clinicians, people living with MS and medical and patient support organizations who joined in this effort over the past decade. Reaching this milestone underscores Acorda’s ongoing commitment to develop innovative therapies for people with neurological diseases.”
January 20, '10: New Ways to Treat Multiple Sclerosis
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
January 2010
Source: WSJ.com
By THOMAS GRYTA and JON KAMP
Multiple sclerosis seems to damage the central nervous system at a pace faster than the body's own repair mechanism can keep up. In an attempt to find new approaches to treat the disease, scientists are exploring techniques to give the repair process a boost.
An important area of research focuses on ways to help the body regenerate a fatty substance called myelin, which is damaged by attacks brought on by MS patients' own immune system. Myelin protects nerve fibers, or axons, much like insulation on electrical wire. Currently, the principal treatment for MS is with medications that aim to slow the disease's progression, but don't help repair the damage.
=============================================
Source: WSJ.com
By THOMAS GRYTA and JON KAMP
Multiple sclerosis seems to damage the central nervous system at a pace faster than the body's own repair mechanism can keep up. In an attempt to find new approaches to treat the disease, scientists are exploring techniques to give the repair process a boost.
An important area of research focuses on ways to help the body regenerate a fatty substance called myelin, which is damaged by attacks brought on by MS patients' own immune system. Myelin protects nerve fibers, or axons, much like insulation on electrical wire. Currently, the principal treatment for MS is with medications that aim to slow the disease's progression, but don't help repair the damage.
Category: * MS Views and Related News *
Posted by: stuart
MS Views and News (a 501©(3) Not for Profit organization) is dedicated to the global collection and distribution of current information concerning Multiple Sclerosis.
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=============================================In collaboration with other organizations, MS Views and News uses state-of-the-art communication channels to provide information for those affected by, or interested in MS.
If not Yet receiving the "Stu's Views and MS News" weekly MS related e-Newseltter. Take 20 seconds to register.
Learn more of MS when registered at our website: http://www.msviewsandnews.org
After registering, you will begin to receive our weekly MS related e-Newsletter which will enable you to keep up to date and receive MS News as it becomes available.
Have questions? Write to stuart@msviewsandnews.org
>End of Year Appeal for the Philanthropist, Corporation or private donor:
MS Views and News appreciates your generosity. Funds from sponsors and contributors makes it possible to expand our services and assist the MS community with educational programs, seminars and various resources.
To donate online or via mail, please click this link for more information
.......................................
December 21, '09: Study could hold key to MS treatment
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
THE BUFFALO NEWS
By Henry L. Davis
NEWS MEDICAL REPORTER
Updated: December 19, 2009, 11:50 PM
Buffalo researchers early next year expect to report the initial results of the first major study of a controversial new theory that multiple sclerosis is caused by blockages in the veins that drain the brain.
If proven correct, the novel theory could overturn the current understanding of how to diagnose and treat a disabling and incurable disease that attacks the nervous system.
Click here to read more
=============================================By Henry L. Davis
NEWS MEDICAL REPORTER
Updated: December 19, 2009, 11:50 PM
Buffalo researchers early next year expect to report the initial results of the first major study of a controversial new theory that multiple sclerosis is caused by blockages in the veins that drain the brain.
If proven correct, the novel theory could overturn the current understanding of how to diagnose and treat a disabling and incurable disease that attacks the nervous system.
Click here to read more
December 20, '09: Interest in CCSVI for Multiple Sclerosis is Growing
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
My Thanks to Karen Hart in Florida for providing me with the information found below, and she thanks Peggy Starks for sending it to her
"Dr. Zivadinov in Buffalo is now starting a new study, recruiting 1,600 adults and 100 children, half of them MS patients. He plans to use ultrasound and MRI scans to confirm if those with MS also have CCSVI and if their family members have the abnormalities too.
Prof. Mark Haake, a neuro-imaging scientist at McMaster University and Wayne State University in Detroit is also intrigued by Zamboni's findings. He has long been seeing iron deposits in the brains of MS patients using a specialized MRI analysis called SWI - specific weighted imaging. When he saw Zamboni's initial publications, he immediately contacted the Italian doctor and began collaborating.
Population studies under way
Haake too is initiating a study, asking neurological centres across North America and Europe to take some extra MRI scans of the neck and upper chest of MS patients. The scans can then be electronically sent to his research team for analysis. He believes this grassroots approach could spur larger and more in depth studies. He's hoping he can engage MS specialists and vascular surgeons, interventional radiologist around the world to study the theory and then move to diagnosing and treating MS patients quickly.
"I think patients do play a role, because there are millions and millions of dollars donated to MS Societies and a lot of money set aside by the government to study MS research and right now, 99.9 per cent of that money goes somewhere else," he told W5.
============================================="Dr. Zivadinov in Buffalo is now starting a new study, recruiting 1,600 adults and 100 children, half of them MS patients. He plans to use ultrasound and MRI scans to confirm if those with MS also have CCSVI and if their family members have the abnormalities too.
Prof. Mark Haake, a neuro-imaging scientist at McMaster University and Wayne State University in Detroit is also intrigued by Zamboni's findings. He has long been seeing iron deposits in the brains of MS patients using a specialized MRI analysis called SWI - specific weighted imaging. When he saw Zamboni's initial publications, he immediately contacted the Italian doctor and began collaborating.
Population studies under way
Haake too is initiating a study, asking neurological centres across North America and Europe to take some extra MRI scans of the neck and upper chest of MS patients. The scans can then be electronically sent to his research team for analysis. He believes this grassroots approach could spur larger and more in depth studies. He's hoping he can engage MS specialists and vascular surgeons, interventional radiologist around the world to study the theory and then move to diagnosing and treating MS patients quickly.
"I think patients do play a role, because there are millions and millions of dollars donated to MS Societies and a lot of money set aside by the government to study MS research and right now, 99.9 per cent of that money goes somewhere else," he told W5.
November 24, '09: Experimental MS surgery draws Canadian interest
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
CBC News - Last Updated: Monday, November 23, 2009 | 10:38 PM ET
The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada will be asking Canadian scientists to propose their own research into a procedure that has ignited the hopes of patients in Europe and North America.
The procedure is known as chronic cerebro spinal venous insufficiency, or CCSVI, and involves removing a blockage in the veins that carry blood to and from the brain.
An Italian vascular surgeon, Dr. Paolo Zamboni, a professor of medicine at the University of Ferrara in Italy, has reported success in reducing the symptoms of people who suffer from multiple sclerosis.
The Canadian MS organization has reacted to Zamboni's research with caution. On Monday, however, the society said that after receiving so many inquiries about the procedure, it has decided to offer a grant to researchers in Canada. Details of the program will be announced Tuesday.
In the meantime, the society urged people with MS to be patient and continue with their regular treatment until there is more evidence about the experimental procedure.
Multiple sclerosis is considered a neurodegenerative disease that attacks the brain and spinal cord, causing inflammation and damage that can lead to paralysis and sometimes blindness. Nerve fibres that send electrical signals in the brain are coated in a fatty sheath called myelin. Myelin acts as an insulator, like a plastic coating covering a copper wire.
The symptoms of MS are caused by the breakdown of myelin, which leads to problems in how messages are transmitted to the central nervous system.
Conventional wisdom suggests multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder caused by immune cells attacking neurons and the brain.
But Zamboni thinks a drainage problem is to blame and that the condition can be treated or prevented by surgically unclogging veins to get blood flowing normally again.
So far, Zamboni has performed the angioplasty-like surgery, known as "la liberation" in Italian, on 120 MS patients, including his wife, whose multiple sclerosis provoked his interest in tackling the disease.
=============================================
The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada will be asking Canadian scientists to propose their own research into a procedure that has ignited the hopes of patients in Europe and North America.
The procedure is known as chronic cerebro spinal venous insufficiency, or CCSVI, and involves removing a blockage in the veins that carry blood to and from the brain.
An Italian vascular surgeon, Dr. Paolo Zamboni, a professor of medicine at the University of Ferrara in Italy, has reported success in reducing the symptoms of people who suffer from multiple sclerosis.
The Canadian MS organization has reacted to Zamboni's research with caution. On Monday, however, the society said that after receiving so many inquiries about the procedure, it has decided to offer a grant to researchers in Canada. Details of the program will be announced Tuesday.
In the meantime, the society urged people with MS to be patient and continue with their regular treatment until there is more evidence about the experimental procedure.
Multiple sclerosis is considered a neurodegenerative disease that attacks the brain and spinal cord, causing inflammation and damage that can lead to paralysis and sometimes blindness. Nerve fibres that send electrical signals in the brain are coated in a fatty sheath called myelin. Myelin acts as an insulator, like a plastic coating covering a copper wire.
The symptoms of MS are caused by the breakdown of myelin, which leads to problems in how messages are transmitted to the central nervous system.
Conventional wisdom suggests multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder caused by immune cells attacking neurons and the brain.
But Zamboni thinks a drainage problem is to blame and that the condition can be treated or prevented by surgically unclogging veins to get blood flowing normally again.
So far, Zamboni has performed the angioplasty-like surgery, known as "la liberation" in Italian, on 120 MS patients, including his wife, whose multiple sclerosis provoked his interest in tackling the disease.
'Tremendous interest'
Category: M.S. Research Study Reports
Posted by: stuart
Source: Buffalo Edu News
Release Date: November 16, 2009
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Magnetic resonance images (MRI) of patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in childhood show that pediatric onset multiple sclerosis is more aggressive, and causes more brain lesions, than MS diagnosed in adulthood, researchers at the University at Buffalo have reported.
Interestingly, however, patients with pediatric-onset MS -- which comprise up to 5 percent of total MS cases -- develop disabilities at a slower pace than patients with adult-onset MS, the data showed.
"Patients with pediatric-onset MS have three times as many relapses annually than patients with adult-onset disease, which suggests there is greater disease activity in this population," said Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, MD, associate professor of neurology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and corresponding author.
=============================================Release Date: November 16, 2009
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Magnetic resonance images (MRI) of patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in childhood show that pediatric onset multiple sclerosis is more aggressive, and causes more brain lesions, than MS diagnosed in adulthood, researchers at the University at Buffalo have reported.
Interestingly, however, patients with pediatric-onset MS -- which comprise up to 5 percent of total MS cases -- develop disabilities at a slower pace than patients with adult-onset MS, the data showed.
"Patients with pediatric-onset MS have three times as many relapses annually than patients with adult-onset disease, which suggests there is greater disease activity in this population," said Bianca Weinstock-Guttman, MD, associate professor of neurology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and corresponding author.
November 17, '09: Tune Into Music and Tune Out MS
Category: Alternative Therapies
Posted by: stuart
This useful information was provided to me from: Cherie C. Binns RN BS MSCN
Tune Into Music and Tune Out MS
By: Cathy Rivera, MS, MM, MT-BC
Most people can remember a time when hearing music changed their mood or made them forget their pains and troubles. However, present-day music therapy can do much more than provide an emotional uplift. The directed use of music for therapy can produce changes in mind and body that last beyond the therapy session. In addition, music therapy can introduce methods of practicing functional skills in a way that reduces the boredom or frustration that can accompany long-term rehabilitation or adaptation training.
Using music to promote health and healing
Studies conducted at research centers worldwide, aided by recent advances in imaging and scanning technologies, show that music directly stimulates the brain and it can influence many brain-based behaviors, including moving, thinking, and feeling.
Music used to be classified only as a "right-brained" activity – basically an emotional response. We now know that just listening to music stimulates areas in every region of your brain. The simple tap of your foot is evidence of that.
=============================================Tune Into Music and Tune Out MS
By: Cathy Rivera, MS, MM, MT-BC
Most people can remember a time when hearing music changed their mood or made them forget their pains and troubles. However, present-day music therapy can do much more than provide an emotional uplift. The directed use of music for therapy can produce changes in mind and body that last beyond the therapy session. In addition, music therapy can introduce methods of practicing functional skills in a way that reduces the boredom or frustration that can accompany long-term rehabilitation or adaptation training.
Using music to promote health and healing
Studies conducted at research centers worldwide, aided by recent advances in imaging and scanning technologies, show that music directly stimulates the brain and it can influence many brain-based behaviors, including moving, thinking, and feeling.
Music used to be classified only as a "right-brained" activity – basically an emotional response. We now know that just listening to music stimulates areas in every region of your brain. The simple tap of your foot is evidence of that.
October 15, '09: Vitamin "D" and Multiple Sclerosis
Category: Alternative Therapies
Posted by: stuart
Source: Rocky Mountain MS Center - eMS News - October 15, 2009
"You need to get your vitamins…" is a phrase we all likely heard as children, perhaps when we didn’t want to eat the heaping pile of vegetables that had been so generously served to us. Annoying as it may have seemed at the time, certain vitamins may in fact be more important than we previously understood. As MS research continues to expand and move forward, there is growing support that one vitamin in particular, D, plays an important role in the development and progression of MS.
Vitamin D, the main sources of which are exposure to sunlight, milk, cheese, and fish, as well as some juices and cereals, is a fat soluble vitamin. It is biologically inert, which means that upon entering the body, it must be processed in order to become activated. This occurs either in the liver or the kidney. Another important aspect of vitamin D is that it works collaboratively with calcium, and is critical for bone growth and health.
============================================="You need to get your vitamins…" is a phrase we all likely heard as children, perhaps when we didn’t want to eat the heaping pile of vegetables that had been so generously served to us. Annoying as it may have seemed at the time, certain vitamins may in fact be more important than we previously understood. As MS research continues to expand and move forward, there is growing support that one vitamin in particular, D, plays an important role in the development and progression of MS.
Vitamin D, the main sources of which are exposure to sunlight, milk, cheese, and fish, as well as some juices and cereals, is a fat soluble vitamin. It is biologically inert, which means that upon entering the body, it must be processed in order to become activated. This occurs either in the liver or the kidney. Another important aspect of vitamin D is that it works collaboratively with calcium, and is critical for bone growth and health.
September 14, '09: TWO new PML cases found in MS Patients
Category: Tysabri Related
Posted by: stuart
TWO MORE Brain-infection cases have emerged
Two more cases of a rare brain infection have emerged in users of the multiple-sclerosis drug Tysabri, sold by Biogen Idec Inc. and Elan PLC, the first such incidences since Biogen stopped updating investors of the situation in July.
At that time, Biogen had confirmed 11 cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, since the drug's relaunch in July 2006; Tysabri was pulled from the U.S. market in 2005 because of PML concerns.
A Biogen spokeswoman said the Cambridge, Mass., biotech company is neither commenting on nor confirming the existence of additional cases as long as the PML rate is consistent with the rate of one-in-1,000 patients implied by the label. The new cases appear to be in line with the label's rate.
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posted by: Stuart Schlossman - RRMS
