News

The Living Rare, Living Stronger Patient and Family Forum, originally set for May 14–16 in Cleveland, Ohio, has been postponed until July 18–20 because of the coronavirus disease COVID-19 pandemic. The event’s sponsor, the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD),…

Even with the coronavirus pandemic ravaging Europe and much of the world, patient advocate Lucia Monaco, PhD, of Italy remains confident that the Paris-based nonprofit she chairs will see the approval of 1,000 new rare disease therapies by 2027. That group, the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) — launched…

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) works to treat people with myasthenia gravis (MG) by increasing the numbers of regulatory immune cells that help to control autoimmune reactions in the bloodstream, an early study suggests. A subset of these cells containing the CTLA-4 protein appears to be particularly important, and may provide…

Aimovig (erenumab) and the investigational immune therapy subcutaneous immunoglobulin (SCIg) can safely be used simultaneously to treat migraines and myasthenia gravis, according to a recent case report. Both treatments were found to be effective at treating their individual conditions in the same patient and did not…

Out-of-pocket expenses for people in China who have myasthenia gravis  increased from 2013 to 2015, suggesting that current policies for medical insurance in China are inadequate for those living with the disease, a new study has found. The study, “Out-of-pocket expenses for myasthenia gravis patients in China:…

Low blood levels of regulatory immune cells that prevent autoimmune responses, and high levels of antibody-producing memory B-cells may cause ocular myasthenia gravis (MG) to progress to generalized MG, an early study suggests. The study, “Comparison of peripheral blood B cell subset ratios and B cell-related cytokine levels between…

The protein osteopontin, thought to be involved in autoimmunity and inflammation, appears to aggravate myasthenia gravis (MG) progression by promoting the production of self-reacting immune cells while lessening the number of cells that safeguard the body against autoimmune reactions, an early study in rats has found. In…

Surgery to remove the thymus gland, a procedure often recommended to people with myasthenia gravis whether or not tumors exist, is more likely to result in complete disease remission when the surgery is assisted by robots, a study found. The study, “Improvement in symptom remission rate…

In recognition of Rare Disease Day Feb. 29, Bionews Services launched a social media campaign last month asking patients to describe what makes them rare. Running Feb. 7–29, the #WhatMakesMeRare campaign was aimed at uplifting people with rare diseases by encouraging them to share their stories and perspectives. The…

Harbour BioMed‘s HBM9161 was found to be safe and effective at reducing the levels of autoimmune disease-associated antibodies in many disorders, including myasthenia gravis, a Phase 1 trial shows. In autoimmune diseases such as myasthenia gravis, a type of antibody known as immunoglobulin G (IgG) attacks the…