Dosing Finishes in Trial of NurOwn Cell Therapy for Progressive MS 4.2 (37)
Patient dosing has finished in a Phase 2 clinical trial testing NurOwn, BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics’ investigational cell-based therapy for people with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), the company announced.
The trial’s top-line results are expected by April.
“Now that all dosing of the NurOwn Phase 2 progressive MS clinical trial is complete, we will shift our focus to completing all remaining patient clinical trial assessments and biomarker analyses,” Ralph Kern, MD, BrainStorm’s president and chief medical officer, said in a press release.
“We look forward to generating clinical trial top line results by the end of the first quarter 2021 and to advancing this promising treatment option based on a thorough analysis of the clinical trial outcomes,” Kern added.
Kesimpta Available Through AllianceRx for US Patients With Relapsing MS 4.2 (15)
Kesimpta (ofatumumab), the first self-administered B-cell therapy to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), is now available via AllianceRx Walgreens Prime, one of the largest specialty and home delivery pharmacies operating in the U.S., to patients living in the country.
The specialty pharmacy which focuses on serving patients with rare, chronic, and complex conditions expressed its satisfaction when hearing that Novartis, the company that holds Kesimpta’s commercial rights, had selected it to distribute the medication.
“AllianceRx Walgreens Prime’s number one priority is helping patients achieve the best possible results when managing their chronic or rare disease,” Tracey James, senior vice president of pharmacy services at AllianceRx, said in a press release.
Primary Headaches Prevalent in MS, Research Reveals 4.8 (14)
The prevalence of primary headaches those with no clear cause is high among patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study suggests.
Clinical screening of headache among MS patients could help tailor individualized treatments and ease the impact of the disease for these patients.
The study, “
Primary headaches refer to headaches with a lack of clear underlying structural pathology, trauma, or systemic disease. These include both migraine and tension-type headaches.
Headache is a common neurological condition reported among people with MS. However, the prevalence of primary headaches among MS patients differs substantially across studies ranging from 35.5% to 70%.
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Mayzent (siponimod) significantly improved cognitive processing speed in people with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) compared with a placebo, according to additional analyses of two-year data from the EXPAND Phase 3 trial.
While no approved therapies in the U.S. currently target cognitive impairment in MS, “our study found that [Mayzent], which is prescribed to slow the progression of physical disability in MS, may also help improve cognitive processing speed in people with advanced MS,” Ralph H. B. Benedict, PhD, the study’s first author, said in a press release.
Benedict is a professor of neurology at the University of Buffalo in New York, and a member of the American Academy of Neurology.
Progressive MS Patients Urged to Enroll in Phase 3 Trials of Tolebrutinib 4.2 (19)
Investigators are looking for people with progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) to participate in two Phase 3 clinical trials assessing the safety and effectiveness of tolebrutinib (SAR442168), an oral BTK inhibitor that is being investigated as a potential treatment, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society announced in a press release.
Both studies HERCULES (NCT04411641) and PERSEUS (NCT04458051) are being sponsored by Sanofi Genzyme, the company that holds tolebrutinib’s commercial rights. The trials are recruiting participants at several locations across the U.S., Europe, and Canada.
The studies intend to recruit about 2,280 adult patients, including 990 (ages 18–55) with primary progressive MS to be enrolled in PERSEUS, and 1,290 with non-relapsing secondary progressive MS (ages 18–60) to be enrolled in HERCULES.