Marco Meglio

NeurologyLive conducted a number of interviews and conversations with leaders within the neurology community to discuss whether the COVID-19 pandemic forced clinicians to change treatment regimens or prescriptions.

NeurologyLive conducted a number of interviews and conversations with leaders within the neurology community to assess how the COVID-19 virus affected the pathology of neurologic disorders.

The assistant professor of neurology and anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School detailed the findings of a phase 2 trial using ezogabine, a drug once FDA-approved to treat epilepsy, in patients with ALS.

The phase 2b/3 study will enroll 160 patients with either familial or sporadic ALS with a primary end point in change from baseline on Revised Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale score at 24 weeks.

There were no observations of clinical resistance or secondary treatment failure due to neutralizing antibodies, supporting the importance of the treatment’s unique purification process through XTRACT technology.

NeurologyLive compiled a number of interviews and conversations with leaders within the neurology community to discuss how they adopted new methods of care throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

NeurologyLive compiled a number of interviews and conversations with leaders within the neurology community to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected telemedicine.

This specialty series is dedicated to assessing the impact COVID-19 has had on the quality of life of patients with neurological disorders and the clinicians who were forced to adapt during this unique era of medical history.

There were significantly fewer patients reaching severe dementia stage with masitinib 4.5 mg/kg/day compared with placebo after 24 weeks of treatment.

Results of the phase 2 study support continued dose escalation of SRP-5051 and further clinical development.

Inclusion of measures of other factors that may influence modified cerebral Functional System Score, such as pain, and sleep quality and insomnia, were noted for future research.

Complete results of the study are expected to be published in early 2021 in a peer reviewed neurology journal.

Eric Segal, MD, director of pediatric epilepsy, HMH Hackensack University Medical Center, detailed his study on diazepam nasal spray in patients with and without antiseizure medications.

Data used from the ENSEMBLE PLUS study showed a comparable frequency of infusion reactions between those who received the 2-hour infusion and the 3.5-hour infusion.

The StrokeViewer tool is currently in use in Australia and Europe and has led to reduced patient disability in the short-term and more clot removals performed.

Future studies are necessary to determine whether longer treatment of ezogabine can sustain the effects on excitability and slow disease progression.

Kelly Knupp, MD, pediatric neurologist and epilepsy specialist, Children’s Hospital Colorado, detailed the findings of fenfluramine in patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and how it may shake up the treatment landscape.

Treatment effects in favor of digital cognitive behavioral therapy were observed for insomnia severity, sleep efficiency, cognitive failures, fatigue, sleepiness, depression, and anxiety.

Patients receiving perampanel in combination with an enzyme-inducing anti-seizure medication may require a higher perampanel dose to achieve similar efficacy with only non-EIASMs.

Michael Okun, MD, executive director of the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases detailed the collaborative effort needed to see sustainable change in the approval system of neurological devices.

Christian Meisel, MD, PhD, department of neurology, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, discussed the landscape for devices that forecast seizures, including the use of multi-modal wristband sensors.

Effect modification analysis showed that the treatment effect when using CBD was comparable between patients with and without infantile spasm history.

No patient with CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder developed valvular heart disease or pulmonary arterial hypertension while being treated with fenfluramine.

The safety profile of diazepam remained similar to what was previously observed, but generally, more patients in the concomitant benzodiazepine subgroup experienced more TEAEs.

The initial study results may provide the basis for future evaluation as a step towards patient empowerment and objective epilepsy diagnostics for broad application.

High retention rates and number of patients remaining seizure-free for prolonged periods indicated the efficacy of cenobamate in treating focal seizures.

Fenfluramine was particularly effective in reducing generalized tonic-clonic seizure frequency in patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, with a push for regulatory submission in the future.

In non-demented patients with Parkinson disease, hippocampal subfields showed associations with memory, spatial working memory, language and executive functions, and CSF tau levels.

The professor of neurology and pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Epilepsy Center sat down to discuss a multitude of topics surrounding Infantile Spasms Awareness Week.

The smartphone-delivered progressive muscle relaxation may be a useful and affordable form of evidence-based therapy that a primary care physician can prescribe to their patients.