Steve Bryson, PhD,  science writer—

Short-term use of cyclophosphamide — given in six monthly cycles, followed by maintenance immunotherapy — markedly reduced the clinical severity of hard-to-treat myasthenia gravis (MG), according to a study by researchers in Australia and the U.K. The therapeutic response seen among patients also allowed a reduction in the…

A bacterial enzyme called CU43 potently mitigates the impact of the self-reactive antibodies that drive myasthenia gravis (MG) and other autoimmune diseases, according to data from a preclinical study. The research team, led by scientists at Emory University in Georgia, in collaboration with researchers at Rockefeller University in New…

Two doses of inebilizumab, Amgen’s antibody-based therapy, led to sustained reductions in the severity of generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG) among patients for up to six months, meeting the primary goal of an ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial. The trial, called MINT (NCT04524273), demonstrated that inebilizumab’s benefits extend…

Descartes-08, an investigational CAR T-cell therapy for generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG), markedly reduced disease activity among patients who completed the entire protocol of a three-month Phase 2b clinical trial. The treatment was also associated with reduced levels of MG-driving self-reactive antibodies, but not in the broader antibody…

More than half of adults with generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG) show a clinically meaningful response to Ultomiris (ravulizumab-cwvz) within about two weeks of a first dose, according to a post-hoc analysis of clinical trial data. In contrast, more than 80% of these 139 trial patients experienced a meaningful…

A Phase 1 clinical trial for IGM-2644, a potential first-in-class immune T-cell engager therapy for generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG), should begin by the end of the year, said its developer IGM Biosciences. “Our early pivot to using T-cell engagers in autoimmune disease has enabled significant progress on these…

Amgen’s antibody-based therapy inebilizumab reduces the severity of generalized myasthenia gravis (MG), according to top-line data from a Phase 3 clinical trial. Dubbed MINT (NCT04524273), the study showed inebilizumab’s therapeutic efficacy in gMG patients who test positive for self-reactive antibodies against the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) or muscle-specific…

Both Soliris (eculizumab) and Vyvgart (efgartigimod alfa-fcab) rapidly eased disease severity among adults with generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG), according to a real-world study that compared the two therapies. Soliris outperformed Vyvgart in its ability to reduce gMG severity and corticosteroid dose over a year of treatment, however.

Using a combination of two standardized assessment tools may be better than the classification process now in place in predicting the outcomes of people with a thymoma, or thymus tumor, associated with myasthenia gravis (MG), a new study suggests. The newly proposed system, from researchers in China, would classify…

The anti-malaria drug dihydroartemisinin, known simply as DHA, showed promise in a rat model of myasthenia gravis (MG) as a potential treatment for the autoimmune disease, a new study reports. In addition to alleviating many MG-related symptoms, DHA inhibited pro-inflammatory T-cells while boosting immune-suppressing T-regulatory cells. Treatment with the…