Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Trials

10/14/21 • 42 min

MS Living Well: Key Info from Multiple Sclerosis Experts

Interested in improving MS care? Participating in a clinical trial may have personal advantages and help others in the future. Trial design discussed including whether or not a placebo (no treatment) will be used. Criteria needed to enroll in a clinical study called inclusion and exclusion criteria explained. Key elements of clinical trials outlined including multiple safety measures and informed consent.

Current clinical trials in multiple sclerosis are covered including using highly effective treatment early for someone living with multiple sclerosis. Current studies in progressive MS and remyelination shared. Compounds highlighted include BTK inhibitors, masitinib, ibudilast, simvastatin and gold nanocrystals.

Barry Singer MD, Director of The MS Center for Innovations in Care, interviews:

Jiwon Oh MD PhD is the Director of the BARLO MS Centre at St. Micheal’s Hospital in Toronto. She is an Associate Professor of Neurology University of Toronto. Dr. Oh’s research focuses on developing advanced imaging techniques of the spinal cord and brain for use in clinical settings. She is the principal investigator on local and collaborative, multi-center MRI studies. Dr. Oh is the lead of the Canadian National Progression Cohort, which is focused on better understanding progression in MS. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto and medical school from Queen’s University. Dr. Oh completed her residency at the University of Toronto, PhD in Public Health at John Hopkins and neuroimmunology fellowship at John Hopkins.

Robert Bermel MD is a neurologist specializing in multiple sclerosis at the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis at Cleveland Clinic. He received a medical degree with thesis honors from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Bermel completed his neurology residency training and served as Chief Resident at Cleveland Clinic. He was funded as a National MS Society postdoctoral fellow in clinical neuroimmunology and advanced imaging at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Bermel cares for patients, conducts imaging research, and an investigator in multiple clinical trials at the Mellen Center. His current research interests focus on the identification of advanced imaging methods to evaluate and improve recovery from inflammatory demyelinating disease.

Visit www.mslivingwell.org for more information.

Barry Singer MD, Director of The MS Center for Innovations in Care, interviews:

Visit www.mslivingwell.org for more information.

Previous Episode

Future Look: From Diagnosis to Tracking Multiple Sclerosis

Cutting-edge research is revolutionizing how multiple sclerosis is diagnosed and monitored. The central vein sign on MRI may soon be a key way of confirming if someone has multiple sclerosis versus other conditions such as migraine, vasculitis, neurosarcoidosis and blockage of small blood vessels (from age, smoking and hypertension). Early clues on MRI imaging are shared in people with evidence of MS prior to developing symptoms (called radiologically isolated syndrome or RIS). New imaging techniques in development visualize changes in progressive multiple sclerosis like slowly-expanding lesions and inflammatory cells called microglia. Dr. Daniel Reich from the NIH covers additional topics from routine MRI monitoring of the brain and spinal cord to remyelination imaging.

With incredible medical advances, some people that were considered to have multiple sclerosis are now diagnosed with neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and MOG Antibody Disease (MOGAD). Dr. Sean Pittock from Mayo Clinic shares how NMO and MOGAD are different from multiple sclerosis and reviews the alternate approaches to treatment including the 3 FDA-approved treatments for NMO, Soliris (eculizumab), Uplinza (inebilizumab) and Enspyrng (satralizumab). Latest research in screening spinal fluid and blood for clues of multiple sclerosis discussed to improve diagnosis and monitoring of the disease.

Barry Singer MD, Director of The MS Center for Innovations in Care, interviews:

Daniel Reich MD PhD is the Chief of the Translational Neuroradiology Section of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He obtained his undergraduate degree in math and physics at Yale, PhD in neuroscience at The Rockefeller University and MD degree at Cornell. Dr. Reich completed residencies in both neurology and diagnostic radiology and a neuroradiology fellowship at John Hopkins Hospital.

Sean Pittock MD is a Professor of Neurology at Mayo Clinic. His is the Director of Mayo Clinic's Center for Multiple Sclerosis and Autoimmune Neurology and Director of Mayo's Neuroimmunology Research Laboratory. He earned his medical degree from University College Dublin, post-doctoral degree at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland followed by residency and fellowship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

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Next Episode

Multiple Sclerosis: Cause & Cure

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) causes multiple sclerosis based on a new monumental study in young adults serving on active duty in the US military. The study found that the risk of developing MS increased 32-fold after infection with the Epstein-Barr virus. EBV causes infectious mononucleosis, spreads through saliva and infects B immune cells.

Alberto Ascherio MD DrPH shares his group's recent findings, published in Science. Epstein-Barr virus treatments in clinical trials reviewed including vaccination studies with the goals of stopping disease progression and preventing MS from ever occurring. The impact of vitamin D, smoking, and obesity on the risk of developing multiple sclerosis is reviewed.

Howard Weiner MD details the genetic risk factors for developing multiple sclerosis such as human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and risks of passing the disease onto children. The role of gut organisms, known as the microbiome, in both potentially causing multiple sclerosis and protecting people with the disease is explored. Strategies for a multiple sclerosis cure are highlighted.

Barry Singer MD, Director of the MS Center for Innovations in Care, interviews:

Howard Weiner MD is the Robert L. Kroc Professor of Neurology at the Harvard Medical School, where is has been on faculty since 1976. He is the Director and Founder of the Partners Multiple Sclerosis Center as well as the Co-Director of the Center for Neurologic Diseases at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. He is also a film writer, director and author. Dr. Weiner is the author of “Curing MS.” His latest book is “The Brain Under Siege: Solving the Mystery of Brain Disease, and How Scientists are Following the Clues to a Cure.”

Alberto Ascherio MD DrPH is Professor of Epidemiology & Nutrition at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Ascherio obtained his medical degree at the University of Milan in 1978. His research group focuses on identifying causes, risk factors and biomarkers of susceptibility and early diagnosis of multiple sclerosis including key research on Epstein-Barr virus and vitamin D.

Visit www.mslivingwell.org for more information.