Research News
The MS Trust is a UK charity, providing information for anyone affected by multiple sclerosis, education programmes for health professionals, funding for practical research and campaigning for specialist multiple sclerosis services.
Patients urged to take part in clinical trials
25 June 2008
Patients are to be encouraged to take part in medical research to advance healthcare in the UK. More...
NHS research - more involvement and choice for patients
24 June 2008
As many patients as possible will have the opportunity to be part of medical research that will transform the healthcare and wellbeing of the population, the Health Secretary Alan Johnson announced today. More...
New oral drug laquinimod reduces multiple sclerosis disease activity and is safe and well tolerated
20 June 2008
A new treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) reduces MRI disease activity and is well-tolerated in patients with the relapse-remitting form of the condition. More...
Favorable two-year data in phase I/II retreatment studies of Tovaxin for multiple sclerosis
12 June 2008
Opexa Therapeutics, Inc, a cell therapy development and commercialization company, today announced favorable safety and efficacy data for Tovaxin, the Company's investigational T-cell vaccination therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS), in the second year of open-label clinical retreatment studies in patients with MS. More...
Clinical trials in multiple sclerosis 2008
12 June 2008
Annual listing of Clinical Trials in MS 2008, featuring ongoing MS trials, as well as those that are being planned or that have been recently completed. More...
Autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation after immunosuppressive therapy effective and safe in multiple sclerosis: presented at ENS
11 June 2008
In patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), immunosuppressive therapy followed by autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation elicited high response rates and improved quality of life for up to 6 years. More...
New approach promising against multiple sclerosis
09 June 2008
Treatment with an immune-suppressing drug may help people with the incurable disease multiple sclerosis, researchers said on Monday. More...
Fresh hurdle for stem cell hunt
08 June 2008
A Nobel Prize-winning scientist says it could be tougher than first thought to harness the healing power of stem cells in medicine. More...
FTY720 trial continues despite death
05 June 2008
Novartis AG said two patients taking its multiple sclerosis drug FTY720 in clinical trials had problems with infections and one died, but the role of the medicine in the cases was unclear. More...
Embryo-free stem cell research gets boost
04 June 2008
A major advance in transforming one kind of cell into another is reported today that will likely to render plans to clone human embryos redundant in the quest for revolutionary new treatments. More...
MS drug keeps people on the move
04 June 2008
A drug which allows multiple sclerosis patients to walk more quickly has passed the next step in its testing, say its makers. More...
Stem cells 'halt nerve disease'
04 June 2008
An injection of stem cells has been used to cure mice with a normally fatal nervous system condition. More...
MHRA report on safety concerns with natalizumab (Tysabri)
04 June 2008
The June edition of Drug Safety Update from the MHRA reports on precautions that need to be taken with natalizumab therapy. More...
Drug improves walking for MS patients
02 June 2008
Acorda Therapeutics Inc said on Monday it will seek U.S. marketing approval early next year for the first medicine to improve walking among patients with multiple sclerosis, following highly favorable results of a second late-stage study. More...
Government announces a National School for Social Care Research
30 May 2008
The Government's commitment to improve social care services will be given a boost with a new National Institute for Health Research School for Social Care Research, Care Services Minister Ivan Lewis announced today. More...
New study suggests immune genes help determine sites of MS damage and symptoms
29 May 2008
Australian investigators funded by the National MS Society (USA) and MS Australia have published results suggesting that a person's set of immune-related genes may help determine which parts of the brain and spinal cord are attacked by the immune system during the course of their MS, and may explain why individuals with MS experience tissue damage, and corresponding symptoms, differently. More...
Good vibrations
21 May 2008
Can doses of vibration improve health and performance? Jennifer Trueland debunks some myths. More...
CUPID study - final push for recruitment
19 May 2008
Researchers announce that recruitment to the CUPID (Cannabinoid Use in Progressive Inflammatory brain Disease) study is nearly complete. More...
MPs back hybrid embryo research
19 May 2008
The government has survived two big challenges to its controversial plans to change the law on embryo research for the first time in 20 years. More...
Study of islanders' DNA to seek clues for a cure to MS
14 May 2008
A groundbreaking study of Scots' DNA is being launched to discover why the nation has the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in the world. More...
New research shows exercise lifts MS symptoms
13 May 2008
Contradicting old research that says exercise is harmful for people with multiple sclerosis, the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada is now promoting exercise as a way of alleviating symptoms of the disease. More...
Study highlights need for early learning intervention in some children with MS
13 May 2008
Italian researchers compared cognitive function between 63 children with MS and 57 controls without MS, and found significant impairment in about one-third of the children with MS. More...
MS can affect children's IQ, thinking skills
13 May 2008
Children with MS are at risk to exhibit low IQ scores and problems with memory, attention and other thinking skills, according to a study published in the May 13, 2008, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. More...
Multiple sclerosis affects men and women differently
07 May 2008
A new study done in Buffalo is revealing the differences in the way multiple sclerosis affects men and women. More...
Promising pill for MS
07 May 2008
Dr Bruce Hughes says not a day goes by without one of his multiple sclerosis patients asking: "When's the pill going to come out?" More...
Bone marrow treatments restore nerves, expert says
06 May 2008
An experiment that went wrong may provide a new way to treat multiple sclerosis, a Canadian researcher said on Tuesday. More...
Fluoxetine (Prozac) may reduce disease activity in relapsing MS
02 May 2008
A study published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry suggests that the antidepressant, fluoxetine (Prozac) may reduce the number of new, active lesions in relapsing MS. More...
Drug therapy usage after a single clinical event
30 April 2008
The latest Cochrane Review to look at multiple sclerosis has shown the potential benefit of using drug therapy early in the disease course, after the first demyelinating event. More...
Atacicept - initiation of phase II multiple sclerosis trial
30 April 2008
Merck KGaA has announced that its Merck Serono division and ZymoGenetics are initiating a Phase II clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of atacicept in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis. More...
Oral treatment (CDP323) under study in relapsing MS
30 April 2008
Investigators at 61 sites worldwide are recruiting 279 people with relapsing forms of MS for a study comparing two doses of oral CDP323 (UCB Pharma & Biogen Idec, Inc.) with inactive placebo. More...
Prozac may slow MS - Dutch study
30 April 2008
The popular antidepressant Prozac may help slow multiple sclerosis, according to a Dutch study showing that people who took the drug had fewer of the brain lesions that are a hallmark of the incurable disease. More...
DNA vaccines may offer hope in MS
25 April 2008
Authors from the VA North Texas Health Care System Neurology Section and the Department of Neurology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have highlighted the potential benefits for DNA-based vaccine administration in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). More...
Registry will track multiple sclerosis to help combat the disease, USA
24 April 2008
Congressmen Michael C. Burgess, MD (R-Texas) and Russ Carnahan (D-Missouri) introduced bi-partisan legislation to create a national registry to house information about Americans living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). More...
Scots health pioneers 'will reverse MS damage in 15 years'
23 April 2008
The effects of multiple sclerosis could be reversed within 15 years using stem-cell treatment, the head of a groundbreaking Scottish research centre said yesterday. More...
Stem-cell treatment could reverse multiple sclerosis effects 'within 15 years'
23 April 2008
Professor Charles ffrench-Constant said stem cells could be used to reverse the effects of multiple sclerosis. More...
Palliative care and legal euthanasia can be mutually beneficial
19 April 2008
Supporters of legalising euthanasia and those who wish to develop better palliative care services can help each other, according to a study published today on bmj.com. More...
Oral multiple sclerosis drug fingolimod retains effectiveness over 3 years: presented at AAN
18 April 2008
More than two thirds of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) taking the experimental oral drug fingolimod (FTY720) have remained relapse free for at least 3 years, researchers reported here at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 60th Annual Meeting. More...
Tovaxin phase I/II data presented at the American Academy Of Neurology 60th annual meeting
17 April 2008
The Principal Investigator of the Tovaxin Phase I/II studies, presented data titled "Autologous Attenuated T-Cell Vaccine (Tovaxin) Dose Escalation in Multiple Sclerosis Relapse-Remitting and Secondary Progressive Patients Nonresponsive to Approved Immunomodulatory Therapies" at the American Academy of Neurology meeting. More...
Official health warning on risk of vitamin supplements
16 April 2008
Millions of people taking vitamin supplements will today be urged to exercise caution by the Department of Health over fears that in some cases they may do more harm than good. More...
Pill offers hope for multiple sclerosis patients
16 April 2008
Scientists have developed a pill to treat multiple sclerosis, offering new hope to the 85,000 British people with the condition. More...
Experimental oral drug 'targets multiple sclerosis attacks'
16 April 2008
An oral drug could help to reduce MS-associated attacks, researchers say More...
Vitamin supplements 'do us no good and may be harmful'
16 April 2008
We swallow them by the bucketload at great expense but there is no evidence vitamin supplements do us any good, and they may even be doing us harm, scientists have concluded. More...
Are we being hoodwinked by alternative medicine? Two leading scientists examine the evidence
15 April 2008
Just how effective is complementary medicine? In a new book, Edzard Ernst, the UK's first professor of complementary medicine, and Simon Singh, a leading scientist and documentary maker, set out to answer that question. They have produced a definitive - if controversial - guide to what works, and what doesn't. It makes indispensable, if sometimes alarming, reading... More...
Drug fails to slow nerve damage
15 April 2008
Genentech and Biogen Idec's cancer drug Rituxan failed to slow the disabling effects of the most difficult form of multiple sclerosis in a large clinical trial, the companies said Monday. More...
Does alternative medicine generate more good than harm? Two leading scientists give their verdict
15 April 2008
Just how safe is alternative medicine? Here, in the second part of our series, Professor Edzard Ernst and scientist Simon Singh explain how "natural" doesn't necessarily mean "safer". More...
Rituxan joins list of treatments that fail for severe form of MS
15 April 2008
Rituxan, a top-selling drug from Genentech Inc. and Biogen Idec Inc., failed to slow the course of the most severe form of multiple sclerosis in a large study, the companies said. More...
Potential treatment for multiple sclerosis begins clinical trials
13 April 2008
A potential treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS), developed by University of Greenwich in association with Kings College, London, has begun clinical trials. More...
Novel clinical trial of harmless worms, based on "hygiene hypothesis"
11 April 2008
Investigators at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, are planning a small, novel study using the eggs of a harmless parasitic worm - called a helminth - to treat people with MS. More...
Study uses hormones to treat multiple sclerosis
10 April 2008
Researchers say women with the disease saw their symptoms reduce during pregnancy. More...
New Wesley Research Institute study aims to halt the progression of multiple sclerosis
09 April 2008
A new research study being conducted at The Wesley Research Institute (WRI) aims to stop the progression of early active stage multiple sclerosis (MS) in its tracks. More...
Shares in cannabis drug firm fall 26% after it scraps trial results
09 April 2008
GW Pharmaceuticals vociferously defended its pioneering drug Sativex yesterday after it was forced to admit a recent trial had disappointed, as a result its shares fell sharply. More...
Food as medicine?
08 April 2008
Caffeine, green tea and tart cherries may guard against multiple sclerosis, cancer and cardiovascular troubles, respectively, new research suggests. More...
MediciNova reports encouraging results from Phase II multiple sclerosis trial
08 April 2008
MediciNova has announced positive clinical findings from the completed two-year Phase II clinical trial of orally administered MN-166 for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. More...
GW Pharma plunges as cannabis drug trial disappoints
08 April 2008
Britain's GW Pharmaceuticals said its pioneering cannabis-based medicine failed to show significant improvement in a final stage trial to treat neuropathic pain in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. More...
Skin yields stem cell clue to diseases
08 April 2008
Scientists have created stem cells from skin taken from patients with seven different diseases, raising hopes for potential new treatments. More...
Asphelia announces initiation of an independent tso trial for multiple sclerosis
07 April 2008
Dr John Fleming, a leading neurologist at the UW Hospital, is initiating an investigator-initiated IND clinical trial to assess the safety and efficacy of Trichuris suis ova (TSO) in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). More...