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Protein Fragment May Generate First Simple Test For Multiple Sclerosis Johns Hopkins scientists report the discovery of a protein found only in cerebrospinal fluid that they say might be useful in identifying a subgroup of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) or identifying those at risk for the debilitating autoimmune disorder. MS strikes over 10,000 Americans each year, most of whom are women, and causes weakness, numbness, a loss of muscle coordination, and problems with vision, speech, and bladder control. It is a disorder in which the immune system destroys myelin, the covering of nerves that helps transmit signals. Cerebrospinal fluid...

On June 13th, I will have been a physician for twenty five years. Twenty four of those years, exactly one half of my life, will have been spent as a neurologist. I would like, therefore, to state for the record, how grateful I am to have been allowed to practice as a neurologist, during this, the profession’s best of times.When I first began my neurology residency 24 years ago, the practice of neurology was described to me in the phrase “diagnose and adios”. Neurologists were great at diagnosing, based on history and physical examination, where precisely a lesion in the...

THE immune cells that attack the brains and nerves of people with multiple sclerosis could be turned into a weapon against the disease.This month sees the beginning of a trial of a personalised vaccine for MS, designed to rein in and destroy the renegade white blood cells that attack myelin cells lining the brain and nerves of patients.To make the vaccine, PharmaFrontiers of Woodlands, Texas, takes blood from an MS patient and extracts a sample of these renegade cells. The cells are then multiplied and weakened with radiation before being re-injected into the patient, whose immune system will then recognise...

ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- A promising drug for multiple sclerosis should be returned to the market despite questions about a rare brain disease, scientific advisers told the government Wednesday - even as they continued to grapple with just who should be allowed to use it. The unanimous vote by advisers to the Food and Drug Administration came amid regulators' own concerns about the drug Tysabri, and whether there is any way to minimize risk from the apparent rare side effect. But the advisers were debating some controls on who could use the drug, agreeing to a manufacturer proposal for a...

The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that it would allow some patients in a clinical trial to resume treatment with Tysabri, a multiple sclerosis drug that was abruptly withdrawn from the market a year ago because of safety risks. The decision appears to strengthen the probability that Tysabri, developed by Biogen Idec and Elan, will be allowed to return to the market. The F.D.A. is scheduled to decide on that question by the end of March. "You can certainly deduce that we've concluded that there are at least some people for whom the risk is worth it," Dr. Robert...

Lilibeth Navarro, a community activist in Los Angeles who became disabled after surviving polio as a child, remembers visiting her doctor after a near-fatal bout with pneumonia. The physician, she recalls, urged her to sign a do-not-resuscitate order so that it could be on file the next time she was admitted to the hospital. To Navarro, 50, the doctor's attitude appeared markedly different from the manner medical professionals seemed to display toward family members such as her 93-year-old grandmother. Doctors presumed, she said, that her fully mobile grandmother would want them to use all medical technology at their disposal to...

Fat Hormone Tied to Multiple Sclerosis Italian Study: Blocking the Hormone Leptin Curbed Similar Disease in Mice By Miranda Hitti WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD on Thursday, January 12, 2006 Jan. 12, 2006 -- Blocking the hormone leptin may help prevent or slow multiple sclerosis (MS).The report comes from Italian researchers and appears in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.The Italian study didn't include any people. Instead, the scientists studied female mice with an MS-like disease.Leptin is a hormone that's mostly made by fatty tissue of the body. Commonly associated with obesity, leptin plays a role in regulating weight and appetite.Leptin also affects...

Every year, athletes die of heat stroke. Road crews, firefighters and soldiers work and fade in sweltering conditions. Millions of others suffer from medical problems made worse by the heat. Now two inventors have come up with a device that may provide a solution. For two years, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which gave us the Internet, has been financing the research on a hand-held device that essentially cools the body from the inside. The device, CoreControl, is a coffee pot-size chamber with a cold metal cone in the center. The user grips the cone and holds it for...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Richard Pryor, the caustic yet perceptive actor-comedian who lived dangerously close to the edge both on stage and off, has died, his ex-wife said Saturday. He was 65. Pryor died of a heart attack at his home in the San Fernando Valley sometime late Friday or early Saturday, Flyn Pryor said. He had been ill for years with multiple sclerosis, a degenerative disease of the nervous system. The comedian was regarded early in his career as one of the most foul-mouthed comics in the business, but he gained a wide following for his expletive-filled but universal...

The sponsors of Tysabri (natalizumab), Biogen Idec and Elan Corporation, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has agreed to conduct a “Priority Review” of their application to return the drug back to the market. Tysabri was withdrawn in February 2005 due to safety concerns and is currently being re-evaluated by the FDA. (Read background information about Tysabri.) Agreeing to a Priority Review means that the FDA has approximately six months from the late September 2005 submission date to review the safety and efficacy data submitted by the companies, to seek advice from experts and comments from persons...

INVERNESS, Scotland, November 18, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A British teen who has multiple sclerosis now claims she is walking after umbilical cord stem cell therapy she traveled abroad to receive. Wheelchair-bound since 2003, 19 year-old Amanda Bryson told The Herald that she has been walking daily since immediately after her treatment from a private clinic in the Netherlands Friday. Believed to be the only British beneficiary of the umbilical cord stem cell therapy, Bryson said this week, "It sounds shocking, but I could feel the difference after just five minutes. Since the treatment I have been transformed. I am doing...

A substance found in many foods, including turkey, can suppress an overactive immune system, researchers are reporting. The substance, tryptophan, produces a breakdown product in the body that, in the study, reversed paralysis in mice with an experimental form of multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disorder that attacks the fatty cells that insulate neurons. "I have always been a skeptic regarding the interaction of diet and immunity," said Dr. Lawrence Steinman, the chairman of the immunology program at Stanford, who led the study, published in Science last week. "But now I'm getting smacked in the head by my own research." Dr....

This Drug Could Help MS Victims . . . But They Can't Get It Lack of Profit Puts Off Trials By INVESTIGATION By Judith Duffy Health Correspondent SIX months ago, multiple sclerosis sufferer Neil Lucas was finding it increasingly difficult to cope with everyday life. He had problems walking and writing and had little energy. Then the 40-year-old began to take a drug, normally used to treat heroin addiction, which is claimed can alleviate the symptoms of MS. He says he saw an improvement within days. "It's not a cure, but it has helped my wellbeing and my stability, "...

Today, Richard Paey sits in a wheelchair behind high walls and razor wire in a high-security prison near Daytona Beach. Paey is a 46-year-old father of three, and a paraplegic. His condition is the result of a car accident, a botched back surgery, and a case of multiple sclerosis — three setbacks that have left him in a chronic, debilitating state of pain. After moving to Florida from New Jersey, Paey found it increasingly difficult to get prescriptions for the pain medication he needed to function normally — to support his family, and to be a parent to his children....

Annette's Health Scare Could it be true? The Globe magazine is reporting that bubbly beach beauty ANNETTE FUNICELLO is reportedly suffering from advanced multiple sclerosis recently complicated by a car accident. The once-curvaceous pin-up from the giddy California beach movies of the 1950s has been confined to a wheelchair and was photographed by the tabloid being wheeled into her home on Aug. 3 after an alleged five-day hospital stay. Details of the accident, however, were not forthcoming. Annette, 62, has been suffering from MS for 18 years, after first experiencing blurred vision and tingling in 1987. She was soon diagnosed...

The makers of the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri said yesterday that a second patient who used the drug had been confirmed to be suffering from a rare but deadly brain infection. The confirmed diagnosis is likely to somewhat diminish the chances that the drug will be able to return to the market. The makers of the drug, Biogen Idec and Elan, halted sales and clinical trials on Monday, saying that one patient in a clinical trial had died from the brain infection and a second patient from the same trial, who was still alive, was also suspected of having it....

Tysabri Suspended From The MarketFebruary 28, 2005 Biogen Idec and Elan Corporation have just announced the voluntary suspension of Tysabri from the market and from all clinical trials due to safety concerns. Tysabri was approved for marketing in November 2004. According to the company press release, "This decision is based on very recent reports of two serious adverse events that have occurred in patients treated with TYSABRI in combination with AVONEX® (Interferon beta-1a) in clinical trials. These events involve one fatal, confirmed case and one suspected case of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare and frequently fatal, demyelinating disease of...

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BOSTON (AP) -- The makers of Tysabri, a new drug used to treat multiple sclerosis, announced Monday they are voluntarily suspending sales of the drug after one patient died and another developed a serious disease of the central nervous system.Stocks of both Biogen Idec Inc. and Elan Corp. tumbled, while shares of ther makers of rival MS drugs rose.The biotechnology companies said in a news release that they have suspended supplying and marketing the drug Tysabri and advised doctors to suspend prescribing the medication. The companies also have stopped using the drug in clinical trials.The companies...

New Treatment for Multiple Sclerosis February 23, 2005 Physicians and patients are excited about the newest treatment in the battle against Multiple Sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis is a debilitating disease that attacks the central nervous system, which is the brain and the spinal cord. In December, the FDA approved a new drug to treat Multiple Sclerosis. The drug is called Tysabri. Patients are given Tysabri in an I.V. once a month. Dr. Vernon Rowe, Founder of the MidAmerica Neuroscience Institute in Lenexa, Kansas is calling the drug a revolutionary new therapy for MS Dr. Rowe says Tysabri will not reverse existing...

FINDINGS Children of overweight mothers are 15 times as likely to be obese by age 6 as children of lean mothers, researchers said yesterday. The children start piling on pounds at age 3, a team at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania found. "We found dramatic increases in body fat between ages 3 and 6," said Robert I. Berkowitz, who led the study. "We should be doing prevention and treatment programs at a much earlier age." --snip-- Blood Thinner Promising For Heart-Attack Survival A large new study found that a blood-thinning drug available in Europe and Asia...

Nurse on cutting edge of treatment for MS Saturday, December 4, 2004 A 41-year-old Dumont man on Friday became one of the first in the nation to receive a recently approved drug that is expected to offer new hope to many multiple sclerosis patients. The medication, Tysabri, was approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration on Nov. 23, after just one year of clinical trials, because of its effectiveness in reducing the flare-ups of multiple sclerosis, while producing few side effects. "I'm looking at this as an early Christmas present,'' said Joe Giles, a nurse and director of critical...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects some 400,000 Americans and is the most common neurological disorder diagnosed in young adults. MS affects eyesight, mobility, bladder and bowel control, and causes chronic pain and dizziness. A quarter of those diagnosed with MS may actually have a benign form, meaning they won't have any symptoms for at least 10 years. Currently, however, there is no method of determining who has this benign form. The result: Many people, diagnosed with MS, are taking medication they don't yet need, with all the attendant side-effects, as well as suffering from excessive anxiety. There is also no way...

It's a known fact in the medical community that two out of the top three medications to treat multiple sclerosis were developed in Israel. Since 1997, Teva Pharmaceuticals' Copaxone has been prescribed by American doctors as a treatment for the earlier stages of MS. And Rebif - the commercial name for interferon-beta-1a, a drug developed at the Weizman Institute of Science - is used by approximately 70% of the MS patients worldwide. Now, an Israeli study has provided some additional hopeful news for those in the early states of multiple sclerosis (MS), among them, some 350,000 Americans.

LONDON (Reuters) - People born in May in the northern hemisphere have a higher than average risk of developing multiple sclerosis, researchers said on Tuesday. An analysis of data from studies of more than 42,000 people in Canada, Britain, Denmark and Sweden showed that May babies have a 13 percent increased chance of suffering from the illness later in life, but that having a November birthday decreased the average odds by 19 percent. "If you are born in May, your risk is higher than any other month and if you are born in November your risk is lower than any...

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved a drug for multiple sclerosis that has shown early evidence of being more effective than existing drugs. The drug, Tysabri, was developed by Biogen Idec and Elan and was called Antegren until the F.D.A. requested a name change to avoid confusion with other drugs. Some analysts predict annual sales will eventually surpass $2 billion. Doctors and analysts say the drug represents an advance but is far from a cure. Long-term data on safety and efficacy are still lacking. "The initial data suggests that it's better than the other drugs but it doesn't shut...

ANTEGREN One-Year Data from Phase III AFFIRM Study Showed Compelling Results in Meeting Primary Endpoint in Multiple Sclerosis BIOWIRE2K CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and SAN DIEGO, Calif. and DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 8, 2004-- One-Year Data Show 66% Reduction in Relapse Rate Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) and Elan Corporation, plc (NYSE: ELN) announced today that one-year data from the Phase III ANTEGREN(R) (natalizumab) AFFIRM trial met the primary endpoint of clinical relapse rate reduction. In this international study of 942 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), natalizumab reduced the rate of relapses by 66 percent compared to placebo, a statistically significant result. All...

Amgen's anemia drug, the best-selling product developed so far by the biotechnology industry, might have broad new uses, recent studies have found. Laboratory and animal studies have shown that in addition to bolstering the body's red blood cells, the drug, EPO, is present in the central nervous system and acts to protect cells and tissues from damage and death. That could make it useful as a treatment for strokes, spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis and many other ailments. Testing in humans is in very early stages. A small study by academic scientists in Germany found that EPO, when given within...

A marijuana-based medication for people suffering from multiple sclerosis and severe pain is expected to be approved for sale in Britain early this year, British officials say. The drug, Sativex, developed by GW Pharmaceuticals, a British company, is a liquid extract from marijuana grown by the company under license from the government. Developed to be sprayed under the tongue, it would be the first drug in recent decades to include all the components of the cannabis plant, advocates of medical marijuana say. The British agency that regulates pharmaceuticals does not like to discuss potential drugs before they are approved. The...

Nov. 6, 2003 -- The pain and muscle stiffness of multiple sclerosis may subside when patients take a pill containing the active ingredient found in marijuana, a new study shows. But spasticity may not improve, even though patients may think otherwise. The study, conducted in Great Britain, looks at this connection -- a study triggered by numerous reports from patients who have had success. It appears in this week's issue of The Lancet. "Our aim was to test that notion," writes lead researcher John Zajicek, PhD, with the University of Plymouth. The available therapies for multiple sclerosis often are inadequate...

Stem cell proposal worries patients Sunday, June 15, 2003By Ted Roelofs and Sharon EmeryThe Grand Rapids Press To Beverly Holzgen, debate over embryonic stem cell research gets a lot more personal than for most of us. Holzgen, 52, has multiple sclerosis and is fighting to get from her wheelchair back to her walker. "They keep telling me to accept the wheelchair but, if I accept it, then I have to give up. So I'm not going to accept it." And if stem cell research offers hope for treating her disease, don't tell the Wyoming resident it shouldn't go forward. "It...

<p>PORT JERVIS, New York (AP) -- In their rambling farmhouse in the mountains, 78 miles from her husband's New York City firehouse, Christine Dewhurst prays every night that her illness will somehow keep him from going to war.</p> <p>"How many ways can you die for your country?" she asks, rocking their 6-month-old daughter, Julia. "Hasn't he seen enough death and destruction? Isn't serving in one catastrophe enough for one family?"</p>

Stem cells could be used to treat diabetes, scientists suggest. Research has already indicated stem cells could be used to treat conditions including brain damage, multiple sclerosis and sickle cell anaemia. This latest study found stem cells from bone marrow could be converted into insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas to replace those damaged by diabetes. The hormone insulin is needed by the body to regulate blood sugar levels. There is a lot of work to be done before this procedure could be used in practice Dr Eleanor Kennedy, Diabetes UK People with type-1 diabetes have lost the ability to...

Doctors may have failed to cure multiple sclerosis because they have been treating the wrong disease, a group of scientists has warned. A trio of neurologists claims in the latest edition of New Scientist the conventional wisdom about MS is based on a different condition altogether, explaining why no cure has been found for the disease. The group argues that instead of the century-old belief that immune cells attack a protein that insulates nerves, MS is caused by support cells called astrocytes malfunctioning, possibly due to a combination of environmental and genetic factors. They claim the original animal experiments conducted...

The world's oldest euphoric drug is poised to make a return to the medicine cabinet. Cannabis, reputedly taken by Queen Victoria to quell her period pains but banished from Britain's schedule of medicinal drugs in 1971, is on the point of winning scientific backing for its role in easing the symptoms of chronic disease. This week the Medical Research Council is due to announce that it has recruited the last of 660 patients to a £1.2m trial of cannabis-based medicines in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, the largest in the world. Most of the patients recruited over the past two...

BERLIN (Reuters Health) - Eating certain smoked sausages in childhood may increase the risk of developing the crippling autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis (MS) later in life, researchers said on Wednesday. The findings support other studies that have pointed to a possible link and suggest that nitrates used in meat preparation combined with chemicals in smoke could be causing autoimmune problems. In MS, the slow destruction of myelin--the thin, protective coating that insulates nerve fibers in the brain and spine--leads to numbness, muscle weakness and stiffness, impaired vision and coordination problems. Marcel Geilenkeuser, from the Darmstadt Clinic in Germany, and colleagues...