Matt Hoffman is the editorial director for NeurologyLive, Contagion, IJMSC, and CGTLive, as well as the Eye Care Network (Ophthalmology Times, Modern Retina, Ophthalmology Times Europe, and Optometry Times). He has covered medical news for MJH Life Sciences, the parent company, since 2017.
He executive produces the Optometry Times podcast, From Paper to Clinic, and previously hosted the Medical World News shows Deep Dive and Second Opinion.
You can follow him on X @byMattHoffman and on LinkedIn, or email him at [email protected].
A new analysis from the phase 3 HALO development program showed that Teva’s CGRP inhibitor fremanezumab (Ajovy) separated from placebo by Day 2 posttreatment, suggesting not only rapid clinical improvement, but the potential to positively impact treatment adherence.
The Green Valley agent, which is derived from seaweed, showed significant improvements in ADAS-Cog scores over placebo and is anticipated to make its debut on the market in China in late 2019.
Study results suggest that as many as 20% of patients may be nonadherent to medication regimens, with youth having the strongest association with intentional nonadherence.
The 2019 update to the 2018 guidelines clarifies prior recommendations and takes into consideration new clinical trial data to offer a comprehensive guide for treatment, from symptom onset through 2 weeks after acute ischemic stroke.
In Part 2 of this interview, Amaal Starling, MD, assistant professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, discussed what still needs to be done in the migraine space in light of recent advancements and how disease-specific therapies are just the beginning for the field.
In Part 1 of this interview, Amaal Starling, MD, assistant professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, shared her experiences with a number of new migraine drugs and devices and the impact that more options will have on clinical practice.
Study results suggest that adherence to individually tailored interventions, including behavioral, dietary, pharmacologic, educational, and other recommendations can have a positive impact on cognition and reduce risk in patients across the clinical spectrum who have a family history of Alzheimer disease.
The FDA has granted the go-ahead to Biogen and Alkermes’ diroximel fumarate, which will be marketed as Vumerity, for the treatment of relapsing-remitting and secondary progressive MS, as well as clinically isolated syndrome.
Data presented at the Child Neurology Society Annual Meeting suggest that the safety and efficacy of cannabidiol (Epidiolex; GW Pharmaceuticals) is maintained through 72 weeks of treatment for patients with LGS.
VTS-72 is a proprietary combination of fumarate and VTS-Aspirin believed to improve the pharmacokinetics of fumaric acid while improving flush, which is estimated to occur in up to 40% of patients on a fumarate agent.
The agency sent a joint letter with the FTC to Rooted Apothecary LLC for claiming its CBD products can medically treat a number of conditions including Alzheimer disease and Parkinson disease. Since 2017, the FDA has issued more than 10 such letters.
SynapCell and Motac Neuroscience recently announced a novel biomarker, BetaPark [evo], for Parkinson disease progression. The chief innovation officer at SynapCell provided insight into the clinical implications of this discovery.
The director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center of Boca Raton and principal investigator of the PROSPECT study, offered insight into the clinical impact and advantages of the Cala Trio neuromodulation device.
The wrist-worn wearable neuromodulation device for essential tremor was shown to be safe and efficacious in the PROSPECT trial, with more than 50% of patients experiencing a ≥50% improvement in tremor "power" or severity.
The VMAT2 inhibitor marketed as Austedo by Teva Pharmaceuticals was associated with clinically meaningful long-term treatment benefit in patients with tardive dyskinesia, showing higher response rates than those observed in short-term trials.
New study results suggest that a wearable ECG device can predict nonconvulsive seizures with a sensitivity of 93.1% and all seizures with a sensitivity of 90.5%.
The director of pediatric epilepsy at Northeast Regional Epilepsy Group and co-director of epileptology at Hackensack University Medical Center provided context to these findings to explain how soticlestat can address challenges in developmental epileptic encephalopathies, as well as what may be next in its advancement.
Treatment with the Catabasis Pharmaceuticals small molecule oral NF-kB inhibitor resulted in improvements in the 10-meter walk/run scores, time-to-stand scores, and 4-stair climb scores in 31 steroid-naïve boys with DMD aged 4 to 7 years.
The director of pediatric epilepsy at Northeast Regional Epilepsy Group and co-director of epileptology at Hackensack University Medical Center spoke about soticlestat and what can be gleaned from data thus far.
Recent study results suggest that relative seizure reduction is an equivalent predictor of post-surgery quality of life in epilepsy to seizure freedom. Study author Lara Jehi, MD, offered insight into the value of these data.
A first-of-its-kind study has explored the social and professional impacts that tardive dyskinesia-related movements can have on individuals with the condition, as well outward perceptions.
Relative seizure reduction was as equally strong a predictor of patient quality of life after epilepsy surgery as seizure freedom in a recent study, with absolute reduction proving to be the worst model surveyed.
New study results suggest that thrombectomy may have similar rates of favorable neurologic outcomes and a comparable safety profile in both pediatric and adult patients with stroke.
A composite score of a number of measurements of evoked potentials may be able to predict sustained accumulation of disability in patients with clinically isolated syndrome, which could provide clinicians insight into early disease.
Alder Biopharmaceuticals announced the dosing of the first patient with ALD1910, its investigational monoclonal antibody that inhibits PACAP to prevent migraine. The study is aiming to enroll 100 individuals with results in mid-to-late 2020.
Eli Lilly’s lasmiditan (Reyvow) tablets are the first member of the ditan class approved for use in adults with migraine with or without aura, offering patients who have an inadequate response to other therapies a new acute treatment option.
The study unearthed a 20% diagnostic error rate with non-sex-specific parameters—10% false negatives in women and 10% false positives in men—which the authors found may be eliminated with gender-specific norms and cut scores.
This is the first study to compare infection risk with rituximab alongside other highly effective disease-modifying therapies.
The impact MT1621 had on survival probably for those treated in comparison to the natural history of the often-fatal disorder was highly significant, with all patients remaining alive as of October.
The senior director of Global Clinical Science at Takeda Pharmaceutical offered perspective on the development of TAK-925, an investigational selective orexin type-2 receptor agonist for the treatment of narcolepsy.