Mom's Story, A Child Learns About MS

Mom's Story, A Child Learns About MS
Available on Amazon and www.marynickum.com

Thursday, June 28, 2012

U.S. Supreme Court rules on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act


The National Multiple Sclerosis Society supports the decision of the United States Supreme Court regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  This ruling will have a significant, positive impact on many, including the millions of Americans affected by multiple sclerosis. 
Below are some of the provisions of the law that the National MS Society believes will have the biggest impact on people with MS and their families:
  • Prohibition of coverage denials based on pre-existing conditions:  Too many people living with MS had been routinely denied insurance after receiving their diagnosis, preventing them from getting the care they need.
  • Prohibition of lifetime limits:  Routine, often costly care is needed to manage MS. This may cause those living with severe forms of the disease to reach their lifetime limit early in life. Elimination of that limit was critically important for continued care.
  • Elimination of annual limits:  Similar to “lifetime limits,” many patients reach their annual limit of coverage because of the cost of care for MS. These arbitrary limits should not prevent those in need from receiving care. 
  • Extension of parent’s insurance to 26:  Many people with MS are diagnosed in their 20s and may still be in school or lacking a full time job to help pay for their care. This provision ensures that they can continue coverage under their parent’s policy.
  • Closing the Medicare Part D Coverage Gap:  Disease Modifying Therapies for someone with MS can cost as much as $4,000 per month, which is out of reach for the average American; therefore, gradually closing the coverage gap has provided financial relief for those who depend on Medicare for prescription coverage.
  • Pathway for Biosimilars:  The law provides a pathway for biosimilars which provides some hope of lower cost therapies in the future.  The FDA had recently indicated it would not have pursued this pathway without the legislative mandate therefore, it will continue to be developed--which is good news for anyone who uses biologic therapies.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Study Identifies Gene Linked to Vitamin D Deficiency

A recent study at Oxford University in England and published in Annals of Neurology, has identified a gene that causes vitamin D deficiency, a condition suspected of having a role in the development of MS.
The study examined the DNA of a group of people with MS who also have a large number of family members with the disease. All the DNA samples showed a distortion of the CYP27B1 gene which controls vitamin D levels in the body. And in a few rare cases where the DNA showed two copies of the distorted gene, the person was found to have a genetic form of rickets caused by vitamin D deficiency as well as MS.
The cause of myelin damage related to MS is still hotly debated: some believe it to be an autoimmune disease while others cite viruses or the environment as the culprit. There is growing evidence however of a correlation between MS and vitamin D deficiency. Epidemiological studies also show that populations closer to the equator and the sun, have far fewer case of MS than populations closer to the north or south poles. Researchers at Oxford University have now taken this premise a step further by showing that vitamin D deficiency and therefore possibly MS could have a genetic cause.
Despite this pivotal link, not all people with vitamin D deficiency develop MS. More research is needed to fully understand why. However, a distortion of the CYP27B1 gene is increasingly apparent in MS cases and it’s possible that the gene generates other, yet undetected, complications that lead to the disease—such as genetically caused rickets.
“Although vitamin D deficiency doesn’t always cause MS, it unveiled a critical genetic source that could be causing other problems that lead to MS,” says Jeffrey Epstein, whose foundation partially supported the study. “Even if we don’t understand all of the implications of that gene’s distortion, research can focus on gene therapy, and that will accelerate a cure.”
The study was partly funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, The Wellcome Trust and the support of science investor, Jeffrey Epstein and The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Teriflunomide Pill Reduces Relapses

In a clinical trial involving 1,169 people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, oral teriflunomide (Genzyme/Sanofi-Aventis) reduced relapses compared with placebo over at least 48 weeks, according to a company press release dated June 1, 2012. Of two different doses tested during the TOWER trial, the higher dose also slowed progression of disability. This is the third completed of five phase III studies involving teriflunomide in multiple sclerosis. An application for marketing approval of teriflunomide was accepted for review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in October 2011.