Latest Conference Coverage

The director of neuromuscular clinical trials at Columbia University Irving Medical Center shared her perspective on the discussions that took place at MDA 2022 and the importance of collaboration among clinicians and researchers.

The president and CEO of the Muscular Dystrophy Association spoke about the need for increased participation in neuromuscular disorder clinical trials and the rapid therapeutic progress the field is seeing. [WATCH TIME: 4 minutes]

Eleven of the 12 individuals demonstrated at least a 50% reduction in creatine kinase, with 75% of participants reaching twice the normal range, suggesting a reduction in muscle breakdown.

More than 90% of the 65-patient cohort had evidence of normal swallowing and had no aspiration or pneumonia aspiration events reported in the phase 1 START and phase 3 STRIVE-EU and STRIVE-US trials.

The division chief of neuromuscular disorders and vice-chair of research at Virginia Commonwealth University spoke to the ongoing success in the development of gene-mediated therapies and the challenges that come along with treating rare neuromuscular disease. [WATCH TIME: 3 minutes]

Kaplan-Meier estimates showed a 61% decreased risk of death on CNM-Au8 compared with predicted median survival from a published European Network to Cure ALS model.

The gene therapy from Novartis showed that it was both efficacious and well-tolerated in presymptomatic patients with SMA with 3 copies of SMN2, with no patients experiencing treatment-related serious adverse events.

Neurology News Network for the week ending March 19, 2022.

The chairman of the department of neurology at George Washington University discussed the reasons to be optimistic, but cautiously, about the expanding myasthenia gravis treatment toolbox. [WATCH TIME: 3 minutes]

Jinsy Andrews, MD, MSc, FAAN, offered her perspective on the ongoing therapeutic boom in neuromuscular disease and some of the critical needs for physicians to keep up with a rapidly progressing treatment paradigm.

Using qualitative exploratory and quantitative validated questionnaires, investigators saw preparation and assessment time reduced by one-third, with a 60% increase in patient encounters to subspecialty services, compared with the period prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The president and CEO of the Muscular Dystrophy Association spoke about the highlights of this year’s annual meeting and the recent therapeutic advances for neuromuscular disorders. [WATCH TIME: 3 minutes]

The chairman of the department of neurology at George Washington University discussed his presentation at MDA 2022 and the value of hearing patient perspective at the conference. [WATCH TIME: 2 minutes]

The director of neuromuscular clinical trials at Columbia University Irving Medical Center shared her perspective on the challenges of familiarizing oneself with the influx of novel medications for neuromuscular diseases. [WATCH TIME: 3 minutes]

Updates from the open-label, delayed-start period of the pivotal 2-part MOXIe trial (NCT02255435) support previous positive primary end points findings from part 2 of the study.

Vamorolone, an investigational agent for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, showed an initial disease-modifying effect that was maintained over a follow-up period of 48 weeks.

The division chief of neuromuscular disorders and vice-chair of research at Virginia Commonwealth University offered his insight into the advances in genetic approaches to LGMD. [WATCH TIME: 2 minutes]

The neurologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto discussed advantages hyperspectral retinal imaging tools like RetiSpec offer and when clinicians can expect to see them in clinical settings.

The 2022 MDA National Ambassador and patient with Bethlem myopathy spoke to the critical need to improve diagnosis delays in neuromuscular disorders and effective communication between patients and their physicians. [WATCH TIME: 2 minutes]

Data may be useful when analyzing disease progression and treatment efficacy in future facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy clinical trials.

The treatment was well tolerated at 48 weeks in patients with DMD with a confirmed mutation amenable to exon 45 skipping.

The staff neurologist and medical director of the Barlo Multiple Sclerosis Program at St Michaels Hospital discussed how investigational BTK inhibitors will be used among an ever-growing MS treatment toolbox. [WATCH TIME: 3 minutes]

Part B of the 2-part study will have patients previously on placebo receive SRP-9001 for an additional 52 weeks.

The 2022 MDA National Ambassador and patient with Bethlem myopathy spoke to the importance of including the patient perspective at medical meetings to improve the care paradigm in neuromuscular disorders. [WATCH TIME: 3 minutes]

Individuals on ravulizumab demonstrated statistically significant changes in the primary end point of MG-ADL and in secondary end points such as Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis total score.

At 97 weeks, avalglucosidase alfa showed continued benefit on measures such as forced vital capacity and 6-minute walk test distance and was successful for patients who switched off algucosidase alfa.

Data from the phase 2 NURTURE study of nusinersen (Spinraza; Biogen) suggest that long-term treatment with the agent is beneficial, and point to the importance of newborn screening and early treatment for spinal muscular atrophy.

At months 6, 9, and 12 of treatment with daridorexant—which was recently FDA-approved for insomnia—patients improved on several sleep measures, including subjective total sleep time and daytime functioning.