Secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) is the onset of gradual worsening of disability following a relapsing-remitting course that may or may not be accompanied by relapses. There are no clear-cut demarcations (imaging, pathologic, immunologic) between the RRMS and SPMS phases, so diagnosis is generally made retrospectively. Read More
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Siponimod receives FDA approval for SPMS
March 29, 2019Siponimod (Mayzent), a second-generation sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulator, has received approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, including clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), relapsing-remitting MS and active secondary-progressive MS (SPMS). Read More
Novel effects of TKI inhibitors in Parkinson’s disease
March 20, 2019A new study has reported that nilotinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), alters brain dopamine metabolism and significantly reduces plasma total alpha-synuclein in patients with Parkinson’s disease (Pagan et al. Pharm Res Perspect 2019; epublished March 12, 2019; free full text at https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/prp2.470). Read More
Polypharmacy common in MS patients
March 13, 2019A single-centre analysis in Germany has found that polypharmacy is common among MS patients, with 56.5% of patients reporting use of 5 or more medications (Frahm et al. Sci Rep 2019;9:3743; free full text at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6403326/pdf/41598_2019_Article_40283.pdf). Most patients were currently taking a disease-modifying therapy (DMT) for MS. Other medications commonly used were gastrointestinal drugs, thrombosis prophylaxis drugs, osteoporosis drugs, antihypertensives and sedatives. Read More