Research Insights Episodes

Scientists are expanding our understanding of MS at an unprecedented pace. This week, Dr. Leorah Freeman discusses why, as new discoveries and medications enter clinical practice, neurologists and MS specialists should ask themselves 3 important questions when considering a patient's treatment plan. Dr. Freeman is the Director of the Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology Center at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, where she also leads the MS and Neuroimmunology fellowsh...

This special episode of RealTalk MS is sponsored by EMD Serono and is only intended for a U.S. audience. EMD Serono is the healthcare business of Merck, KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in the United States and Canada. Please note this episode is only intended for a U.S. audience. In this special episode of RealTalk MS, Professor Elisabeth Celius and Amanda Montague join me to explore new consensus recommendations for the future of MS care from MS in the 21st Century. We'll hear what experts and peopl...

From the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, people living with MS have been justifiably concerned about how a COVID-19 infection might impact their MS. As the new "Stratus" strain of COVID-19 is currently surging in the United States, research is providing answers we didn't have five years ago. Dr. Robert Fox, the Managing Director of the NARCOMS Patient Registry, joins me to discuss how COVID-19 infections and other infections impact people with MS. As ECTRIMS, the world's largest MS res...

Last week, over 9600 MS researchers and clinicians gathered in Barcelona for the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis annual scientific congress -- ECTRIMS 2025. Minutes after the conference adjourned, in what has become an annual tradition, Dr. Bruce Bebo, the Executive Vice President of Research at the National MS Society, joined me to share his initial thoughts on the science presented at the meeting. Then, Kristine Werner Ozug, a member of the RealTalk MS tea...

Since 2001, clinicians have relied on the McDonald Diagnostic Criteria as the gold standard for diagnosing someone with multiple sclerosis. As science continues to add to our understanding of MS, the McDonald Criteria have been updated in 2005, 2010, 2017, and most recently in 2024. This latest iteration of the McDonald criteria will be published in September, and today, Dr. Andrew Solomon is giving us a preview of what these changes are, what they mean, and how they're going to improve the pro...

We're witnessing the early stages of a paradigm shift, as artificial intelligence is beginning to impact virtually every aspect of healthcare, from research to patient care. And there's much, much more to come. This week, Dr. Brad Willingham, the Director of MS Research at Shepherd Center in Atlanta, joins me to discuss how AI will impact MS patient care. We'll also share the encouraging results from a Phase 2 open-label extension study for Fenebrutinib, an investigational disease-modifying th...

More people over the age of 50 are being diagnosed with MS than ever before. When you consider the other health conditions that often develop as we age, and you add the fact that our immune system changes with age, there's a lot to think about when it comes to diagnosing and treating late-onset MS. This week, Dr. Jacqueline Nicholas, the System Chief of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis at the OhioHealth Multiple Sclerosis Center, joins me to help us better understand late-onset MS. We'll...

Back in Episode #401, we reported promising results from a Phase 2 clinical trial for vidofludimus calcium and its impact on progressive MS. This therapy is being developed by Immunic Therapeutics, and this week, Jason Tardio, Immunic's President and Chief Operating Officer, joins me to share some of the specifics of that clinical trial. Jason will also shed light on why Immunic believes that vidofludimus calcium goes beyond merely slowing disability, potentially offering vital neuroprotection ...

Over the past few months, we've shared news about an algorithm that can accurately predict whether someone living with MS will experience worsening symptoms or a relapse in the weeks ahead. You've heard about a three-quarter-of-a-million-dollar investment by the International Progressive MS Alliance to support the development of an AI-based tool that will predict future disability as well as how someone with MS will respond to different disease-modifying therapies. Just last week, you learned ...

Last week, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis convened a meeting in Dublin, Ireland, to dive deeper into what a new framework for describing MS might look like. There's still a tremendous amount of work to be done here. But, considering that whatever language is eventually adopted will affect every person living with MS, I want to keep you fully informed on this important work. So I'm devoting this entire episode o...