Seven Things I’m Thankful for This Holiday Season

Holding Out Hope for the Day When Pain Shall Be No More

“Definition of chronic pain: being constantly in pain. Yes, constantly. Every single second. The person is smiling? Still in pain. The person doesn’t mention it? Still in pain. The person says ‘I’m fine.’ Still in pain.” — Unknown Chronic pain has been my constant companion for the…

CAN106 Gets FDA Orphan Drug Designation for Myasthenia Gravis

CAN106, an investigational complement-inhibiting therapy being developed by CANbridge Pharmaceuticals, has been granted orphan drug designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a potential treatment for myasthenia gravis (MG). The FDA gives orphan drug status to therapies that have the potential to treat rare disorders,…

Zilucoplan Under Review in US and EU to Treat Generalized MG

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have agreed to review applications seeking the approval of zilucoplan to treat generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG). UCB, the therapy’s developer, announced the FDA accepted its new drug application (NDA), requesting zilucoplan be approved to treat…

Is ‘Inconclusive’ Good or Bad? That’s Yet to Be Determined

Inconclusive: one of the most annoying, aggravating, but reassuring words to anyone with complex health issues. Why reassuring? Because at least it’s not negative. It provides some modicum of validation. Something is showing up on whatever test results have been deemed inconclusive. Why does it matter? Many of us in…

Smoking Linked to Earlier Onset of MG

The onset of myasthenia gravis (MG) occurs at a significantly younger age in people who smoke, a study has found. Women who smoked at MG onset, or within 10 years before its onset, were significantly younger at disease onset than men. Yet, no sex differences were seen among those…

IVIG Not Effective at Lowering Corticosteroid Dose in MG Patients

Intravenous immunoglobulin therapy was not effective at reducing the daily dose of corticosteroids for treating myasthenia gravis (MG), a multicenter Phase 2 trial shows. “These results suggest that immunomodulation alone was insufficient to facilitate dose reduction,” the researchers wrote. The trial results were reported in the study, “…