Matt Hoffman

The monoclonal antibody against CGRP reduced the frequency of episodic cluster headache attacks significantly more than placebo, though the Eli Lilly therapy failed to separate from placebo in the disease’s chronic presentation.

The director of the Headache Center of Southern California shared insight into the success of ubrogepant in patients who failed on triptans, and how the future of migraine treatment may need to focus on combination approaches.

The PD GENEration program will offer no-cost genetic testing for Parkinson-related genes and genetic counseling, using the data for future research into the development of personalized medicine and interventions in Parkinson disease.

Lead author Elizabeth K. Seng, PhD, shared insight into the findings of an exploration of the use of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy to reduce the impact of migraine on patients, as measured by Migraine Disability Assessment, as well as Headache Disability Inventory scores.

Real-world data of erenumab indicates that a large number of patients are the chronic migraine population, and there is a high rate of persistence to the anti-CGRP therapy. The most commonly prescribed dose of erenumab was 70 mg.

Patients with migraine who reported both moderate and severe pain intensity during headache attacks experienced high rates of relief and freedom from pain and their most bothersome symptom when treated with 3-mg sumatriptan injection, DFN-11.

Despite ongoing discussion regarding the 6-item Headache Impact Test’s relevance in the migraine population—for which it was not specifically developed—the test has been shown to be a useful tool in the assessment of patients with migraine.

Survey data revealed 36% of patients with migraine with prescription medications were using opioids in acute management, though data also reinforced that receiving a diagnosis of migraine or chronic migraine was associated with a significantly decreased likelihood of opioid use.

As measured with the Migraine Disability Assessment, the proportion of patients with episodic migraine experiencing severe disability was reduced significantly, and Headache Disability Inventory scores were significantly reduced.

Almost 20% of rimegepant-treated patients experienced pain freedom within 2 hours of receiving a 75-mg dose compared to the placebo group, in which 12% were pain-free at 2 hours.

Both the frequency of headache days and the intake of acute medication were decreased with the use of a daily, single 20-minute eTNS session over the course of 3 months in an open-label, monocenter, prospective pilot trial.

30 days post-treatment, the mean Fugl-Meyer score change was a significant 8.36 points and 7.86 points for the in-clinic and telerehabilitation groups, respectively.

In order to improve patient care in epilepsy, physicians need a more consistent and cohesive method of recording patient seizure activity. As wearables get more sensitive and specific, using them in tandem with electronic seizure diaries may help address the challenge.

The MS neurologist at Cleveland Clinic’s Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health discussed the impact that propensity score has had on real-world data analysis, the use of additional outcome measures in trials, and the increasing understanding of progressive disease.

A new analysis of NASR data suggests that the risk for sudden unexpected death in epilepsy exists across a broad range of epilepsies, including those patients who are seizure-free, have never had tonic-clonic seizures, or those diagnosed with a benign epilepsy syndrome.

The clinical assistant professor of neurology and neurosurgery at the University of Texas discussed the need to identify men who may be at risk for myasthenia gravis despite a lack of willingness to see their physician.

The entire 25-patient cohort from the NURTURE study was able to sit without support, while 88% were able to walk independently, according to new 45-month data in presymptomatic patients with spinal muscular atrophy.

PF-06939926 is a recombinant adenoassociated virus serotype 9 (AAV9) capsid carrying mini-dystrophin, a shortened version of the human dystrophin gene, under the control of a muscle-specific promoter.

After receiving a refusal to file letter and undergoing a Type A meeting with the FDA, Zogenix has announced that it plans to resubmit an NDA for fenfluramine (Fintepla) for the treatment of seizures associated with Dravet syndrome in Q3 of 2019.

The clinical assistant professor of neurology and neurosurgery at the University of Texas spoke about the staggering number of men who forgo seeing physicians for serious conditions and how the clinical community can help address the challenge.

A trio of predictors may help inform which patients may be candidates for resective surgery, as well as improve the postsurgical consideration for re-operation on those who experience disabling seizure recurrence.

Data suggest that rufinamide is capable of aiding in the control and reduction of seizures, as well as the possible achievement of seizure-freedom in pediatric patients with genetic/metabolic, hypoxic-ischemic, structural, and other intractable epilepsies.

Several poster presentations at IEC 2019 suggest that the incidence of comorbid sleep disorders in people with epilepsy is higher than estimated and have a detrimental impact on quality of life and social adjustment.

Patients with CLN2 disease have shown a maintained treatment benefit, high rate of response, and lowering rates of seizure occurrence over 3 years in an ongoing extension trial.

The GW Pharmaceuticals cannabidiol formulation, marketed as Epidiolex, did not show any evidence of clinically relevant drug-drug interactions when co-administered in patients with epilepsy.

Overall, myoclonic and absence seizures worsened in 1.2% and 15.9% more patients in the placebo group, respectively, than those given perampanel. The reductions in seizure frequency and the increases in seizure-free days were also greater with the noncompetitive AMPA receptor antagonist.

An assessment of 230 poststroke patients determined that neurorehabilitation outcomes and length of stay did not differ between those with poststroke epileptic seizures and those without.

In a retrospective study, 51.7% of patients achieved seizure freedom while receiving lacosamide, with seizure freedom rates going as high 88.9% for those who were administered the drug as monotherapy.

Findings from SANAD II have suggested that levetiracetam is inferior to valproate in time to 12-month and 24-month remission in patients with generalized or unclassified epilepsy.

While the clinical benefit of the therapy in Alzheimer is still unclear, the dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker increased blood flow by 20% compared to placebo in the brain’s memory and learning center, indicative of preserved cerebral autoregulation.