A team of French researchers may have found a new therapeutic target, the IL-23/Th17 signaling cascade, to control tissue inflammation in patients with myasthenia gravis. The study, “Il-23/Th17 cell pathway: A promising target to alleviate thymic inflammation maintenance in myasthenia gravis,” was published in the Journal of…
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MG-ADL, a patient-reported scale commonly used to address symptom severity in myasthenia gravis (MG), has a poor sensitivity for measuring generalized muscle weakness. Researchers suggest that more questions about it be added. The study, titled “Sensitivity of MG-ADL for generalized weakness in myasthenia gravis,” was published…
Treatment of adult MuSK-antibody positive myasthenia gravis (MuSK-MG) patients with the investigational therapy Firdapse (amifampridine phosphate) improved muscle strength, eased fatigue, and was safe, according to full results of a Phase 2b clinical trial. Recruitment is ongoing for a phase 3 clinical trial (NCT03579966) testing Firdapse in MuSK-MG patients.
A new test offers a rapid, sensitive and inexpensive way to detect anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibodies in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). The study with that finding, “A Simple, Rapid and Non-Radiolabeled Immune Assay to Detect Anti-AChR Antibodies in Myasthenia Gravis,” was published in the journal…
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Common Clinical Scales Insufficient to Evaluate Swallowing Problems in MG Patients, Study Reports
Commonly used clinical scales to measure symptom severity in myasthenia gravis (MG) patients are insufficient to precisely evaluate swallowing problems and predict the risk of silent aspiration, a study reports. Patients with difficulty swallowing and disease severity classified…
Cash-strapped governments across the 28-member European Union are struggling to control runaway healthcare expenditures — at exactly the same time as the promise of new but expensive therapies to treat rare diseases has never been greater. That’s the paradox faced by pharmaceutical companies as well as patient advocacy groups in…
A patient with symptoms of a myasthenic crisis was successfully diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (MG), using an approach called the ice pack test, a case study reports. The study, “Ice Pack Test – An Useful Bedside Test to Diagnose Myasthenia Gravis,”…
Topline results from a Phase 2 trial of Ra Pharma’s zilucoplan (previously known as RA101495), a potential self-administered therapy for patients with generalized myasthenia gravis (MG), showed a statistically significant decrease in markers of disease severity, achieving both its primary objectives. All the trial participants completed the 12-week treatment; 98 percent of…
The gut microbiome of people with myasthenia gravis is less diverse than that of healthy people, with a rise in pro-inflammatory bacteria and a reduction in protective molecules, a new study shows. The study, “Altered Gut Microbiota in Myasthenia Gravis,” was published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.
Prograf (tacrolimus) suppressed the proliferation and inflammatory responses of specific immune cells collected from patients with MuSK-antibody positive myasthenia gravis (MuSK-MG), a new study. These results provide early evidence of Prograf’s potential in treating this type of MG. The study, “Tacrolimus inhibits Th1 and Th17…