Joana Carvalho, PhD,  managing science editor—

UCB has completed its acquisition of Ra Pharmaceuticals, priced at about $2.3 billion, meaning that zilucoplan — an investigational treatment for myasthenia gravis (MG) — is being added to UCB’s product pipeline. The transaction, whose start was announced by UCB last year, is expected to…

Scientists have created — in a lab dish — a three-dimensional model system made of human neurons and muscle cells that can be used to study neuromuscular disorders, including myasthenia gravis. The new model is described in the study, “Self-Organizing 3D Human Trunk Neuromuscular Organoids,” published in…

People with refractory myasthenia gravis — those whose symptoms persist after treatment — are more likely to miss working hours and to be unemployed than those whose disease responds to treatment and are nonrefractory, a study found. The study, “Employment in refractory myasthenia gravis: A Myasthenia…

Ra Pharmaceuticals announced the first patient enrolled in RAISE, the company’s Phase 3 clinical trial assessing the effectiveness of zilucoplan  as a therapy for generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG), has started receiving treatment. Zilucoplan, formerly known as RA101495, is an artificial peptide that binds to complement 5…

Physicians should keep in mind that severe exacerbations in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) might be triggered by the use of gabapentin (sold under the brand name Neurontin, among others), normally used to control seizures, a case report study says. “Uncontrolled recurrent myasthenia gravis exacerbations secondary…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to zilucoplan, Ra Pharmaceuticals‘ lead candidate for the treatment of myasthenia gravis (MG). This status helps to support the potential therapy’s development by granting Ra Pharma certain incentives. Zilucoplan, formerly known as RA101495, is an…

Scientists discovered that patients with myasthenia gravis have a unique metabolic profile that can be used to diagnose the disorder, but also to predict the course of the disease and possibly lead to personalized treatments. The study, “Beyond the antibodies: serum metabolomic profiling of myasthenia gravis,” recently was…

Despite being relatively rare in toddlers, juvenile myasthenia gravis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of children showing different types of eye-related symptoms, a case report says. The case report study, “Mummy, my eyelids are heavy”: A case series of juvenile myasthenia gravis,” was published recently in…

Despite the support from basic health insurance, those in China living with rare diseases, such as myasthenia gravis (MG), hemophilia, and phenylketonuria (PKU), still struggle to have access to affordable medications and therapies, according to a study. The findings of the study, “Health service security of…

Muscle cells of myasthenia gravis patients produce large amounts of the programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) — a substance produced by different types of cells to prevent the overactivation of immune cells — which may affect how these patients’ immune systems work, a study says. The findings of…