News Archive
Measles is a Thing Again
CDC Issues Health Alert Amid Rising Measles Cases, Urges Vaccination
Hundreds Exposed To Measles In CA Amid Global Uptick: Health Advisory
MGers on high levels of immunosuppressants should talk to their MG doctor before deciding to get a measles vaccine, because it has live viruses.
Benefits of Zilbrysq sustained over 1 year in gMG study (Myasthenia Gravis News)
Vyvgart Hytrulo eases disease severity, boosts life quality (Myasthenia Gravis News)
Californians: There's been a huge change to the Med-Cal program for older adults and people with disabilities. This change happened on January 1st, 2024. Watch this video presentation to learn more about these changes and how to enroll in Medi-Cal. The good stuff starts at 14:40.
Also, here's an L.A. Times article from February that dives into many of the Medi-Cal changes that might benefit you.
Switching from plasma exchange to Vyvgart well tolerated, effective (Myasthenia Gravis News)
New cell therapy improves physical function in refractory MG (Myasthenia Gravis News)
Dianthus launches Phase 2 trial to test DNTH103 in generalized MG (Myasthenia Gravis News)
Why Most People with Autoimmune Diseases Are Women (NIH) also: Understanding sex differences in autoimmune disease (NIH) also: What Are Autoimmune Diseases? (Verywell Health)
Identifying patients at risk for myasthenic crisis (mc) with hemogram and inflammation-related laboratory parameters – a pilot study - " increased counts of basophils, neutrophils, leukocytes, and platelets may be associated with a higher risk of developing MC in patients with MG" (Frontiers in Neurology)
Triamcinolone injections around the eyeballs seen to ease ocular MG (Myasthenia Gravis News)
High levels of immune protein linked to MG severity, relapse risk (Myasthenia Gravis News)
Nipocalimab eases disease severity in adults with gMG: Phase 3 trial (Myasthenia Gravis News)
Sustained gains with long-term Vyvgart use seen in ADAPT+ trial (Myasthenia Gravis News)
IVMP and Tacrolimus Both Show Promise in Ocular MG (Rare Disease Advisor)
MG flares affect sizable number of patients in US, despite treatment (Myasthenia Gravis News)
"A highly mutated version of the COVID-19 virus called JN.1 is currently driving a surge of infections in the United States. The extremely transmissible variant now accounts for about 86 percent of COVID cases — a major jump from Thanksgiving, when fewer than 8 percent of infections were caused by JN.1." Read the complete article HERE.
Serum fibrinogen may be a universal biomarker for MG (Myasthenia Gravis News) Maybe another tool for diagnosing MG.
The US is experiencing the second largest COVID-19 wave since the start of the pandemic. It's not too late to get re-vaccinated.
Place Your Order for Free At-Home COVID-19 Tests
As of November 20, 2023, residential households in the U.S. are eligible for another order of 4 free at-home tests from USPS.com. Here's what you need to know about your order: Each order includes 4 individual rapid antigen COVID-19 tests (COVIDTests.gov has more details about at-home tests, including extended shelf life and updated expiration dates). If an order has not been placed for your address since the program reopened on September 25, 2023, you can place 2 orders now. Orders will ship free starting the week of November 27, 2023. Place your order here: https://special.usps.com/testkits.
Descartes-08 shown to reduce gMG disease severity up to 1 year in trial (Myasthenia Gravis News) Here is Cartesian Therapeutics' Press Release.
Zilbrysq for AChR-positive gMG now commercially available in US (Myasthenia Gravis News)
Some possibly good news for MuSK-MG patients. Keep an eye on this evolving study.
New generic version of Mestinon as oral syrup available in U.S. (myasthenia-gravis.com)
Vyvgart safe, effective in hard-to-treat gMG - more good news about Vyvgart (aka Efgartigimod)
Zilucoplan, now Zilbrysq, approved by FDA for AChR-positive gMG. UCB injection therapy is 1st in US that's once daily and self-given. See the press release. Here are several links with further information.
Move for MG - This is a new series of Youtube videos by Liz Plowman (sponsored by Alexion), a physical therapist (PT) based in Houston, Texas, who specializes in chronic pain conditions. She also is a person living with myasthenia gravis (MG). Episode 1 introduces Liz and how she became a PT. In Episode 2 Liz goes into detail about the similarities and differences between occupational and physical therapy. Additionally, she gives examples for which therapy is best as a solution to specific problems people with MG may face. You can find additional episodes, as they are added, on the More Than MG Youtube channel.
2 types of anesthesia found safe, effective for surgery in MG according to research data just released. For reference, here are the normal Types of Anesthesia Used During Surgery; also: The Side Effects and Complications of General Anesthesia.
Sustained Benefit for Newly Approved Myasthenia Gravis Drug in Early Responders - More good news about zilucoplan (Zilbrysq)
Improve MG App
Below is a new app for MG patients, Improve MG App, developed by the renown MG Neurologist and researcher, Dr. Srikanth Muppidi of Stanford University. The app helps patients track their symptoms, MG-ADL scores, etc. The app is great because you can record audio and video of yourself to show to your doctor, etc. Feel free to download and try/use this app. Connie, our group leader, is scheduling Dr. Muppidi to present his app at one of our early 2024 mgsocalgroup virtual meetings. Stay tuned for info on the date and time of this exciting presentation. Also be sure to check out Dr. Muppidi's Digital Monitoring in MG presentation, a printable and downloadable PDF document.
