The member organizations of the Multiple Sclerosis Coalition (MSC) unanimously endorsed the American Academy of Neurology’s (AAN) position statement entitled Availability of Disease Modifying Therapies (DMT) for Treatment of Relapsing Forms of Multiple Sclerosis.

Health experts tout swimming as one of the best all-around, total-body workouts. It builds both strength and cardiovascular endurance, and is well-suited for all ages and abilities.

The Multiple Sclerosis Coalition’s (MSC) entire membership is providing support for bipartisan legislation to establish a data system to track the incidence and prevalence of neurological diseases, including multiple sclerosis. The bill, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressmen Michael C. Burgess, M.D., (R-TX), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), could lead to a better understanding of the disease and provide new disease targets.

Exercising more often is a popular New Year’s resolution, but one that too often proves difficult to keep. But what if thousands of people living with multiple sclerosis (MS) were counting on you to keep that commitment?

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently made some changes to the product labeling for Tecfidera® (dimethyl fumarate). These changes instruct physicians on how to best prescribe the drug for their patients to minimize the potential for certain side effects and adverse events. The revisions are described below; please note that several of the definitions given are from MedlinePlus (from the National Institutes of Health).

On December 1, 2014, Novartis announced that their Phase III INFORMS trial with Gilenya® (fingolimod) for individuals with primary-progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) did not meet its primary endpoint. Presently, this disease-modifying therapy, taken orally (by mouth), is approved for the long-term treatment of relapsing forms of MS. The hope was that Gilenya would also prove effective in treating PPMS, a less-common form of MS that presently has no approved treatments available to slow disease activity.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today that Lemtrada™ (alemtuzumab) has been approved for the long-term treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Given via intravenous (IV) infusion for a course of five days and followed one year later by a second three-day course, Lemtrada has been approved as a second-line therapy. This classification refers to a drug that may only be prescribed when other FDA-approved treatments fail or are not tolerated well by a patient. Lemtrada should generally be prescribed for patients who have had an inadequate response to two or more of the disease-modifying therapies, because of the medication’s safety profile.

Genzyme, a Sanofi company, has announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved adding the data from two Phase III studies to Aubagio®’s (teriflunomide) product label. These studies are the TOWER and TOPIC studies, which provide additional study results for Aubagio’s efficacy and safety. Aubagio was approved by the FDA in September 2012 and was the second of three (to date) oral medications approved as a disease-modifying therapy (DMT) for relapsing forms of MS.

The Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA) is pleased to announce the launch of My MS Journey, a new website addition accessed at mymsaa.org/journey. My MS Journey has been designed to guide individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) to the relevant information that best matches their needs – whether newly diagnosed or coping with the disease for many years.