News

People with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) often have other co-occurring autoimmune diseases and those who do have a significantly higher risk of a relapse than people with NMOSD alone, a study in Portugal suggests. Long-term disability outcomes didn’t differ between the two groups, however, suggesting “appropriate treatment may…

Testing for the self-reactive antibodies that drive most cases of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) in dried blood spots (DBS) is as accurate as testing blood samples, a study shows. The findings suggest the dried blood spot technique could be a viable alternative to conventional blood sample testing for…

A seaweed-derived preparation named GV-971 (sodium oligomannate) that has anti-inflammatory effects through the gut-brain axis, delayed the onset and progression of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) in mouse models of the disease, a study shows. The preparation developed by Green Valley Pharmaceuticals is approved in China as an…

About half of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) patients who test positive for self-reactive antibodies, or autoantibodies, against the AQP4 protein — a hallmark of the autoimmune disease — have at least one other type of autoantibody, according to a new study from South Korea. Many of these other…

HNSA-5487, Hansa Biopharma’s experimental treatment for neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) and other autoimmune diseases, safely and effectively reduced the levels of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies — ones involved in the abnormal immune attacks that drive these conditions — in a Phase 1 clinical trial involving healthy volunteers.

In the five years before their first disease attack, people with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) required significantly more doctor’s office visits and hospitalizations than their peers in the general population, a new study from Canada found. The researchers believe these findings point to the presence of an NMOSD…

Uplizna (inebilizumab) treatment markedly reduces the number of several subsets of immune B-cells that are linked to disease relapses in people with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), trial data show. The therapy also lowers levels of the self-reactive antibodies against the AQP4 protein that drive most NMOSD cases,…

Experiencing attacks marked by transverse myelitis, or spinal cord inflammation, significantly increases the chance of worse disability in people with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) patients and the related condition myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD). Those are the findings of a study analyzing data from a Portuguese national…

Maintenance treatment with rituximab significantly reduced the number of relapses per year in people with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), and it remained effective after patients experienced relapses, according to a study from China. Relapses more frequently occurred within the first year after rituximab initiation, and their frequency decreased…

The risk of losing income increases dramatically within a few years after the onset of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) in patients positive for antibodies against aquaporin-4 (AQP4), compared with the general population. That’s according to a nationwide study in Denmark that also showed AQP4-related NMOSD was strongly associated…