Blog Archives

Searching for markers of myasthenia gravis in French National Health Insurance data

Over the period 2013-2020, 14,459 people in France received reimbursements for care related to autoimmune myasthenia gravis, including 6,354 for the first time. Of these, : 34.6% were hospitalised at least once in intensive care, 2,817 patients received IVIG and 432 received plasma exchange, these events, which indicate poor control of the disease, mainly occurred … [Read more]

Disease progression in BMD depends on the type of deletion

A retrospective natural history study of 943 patients with Becker myopathy (BMD) followed in 17 Italian neuromuscular centres provides information on the correlation between genetic abnormality, symptoms and disease course. Diagnosis was made at a median age of 7.5 years (4.0-14.0); the median age at last assessment was 26 years (16.6 – 41.9). The first … [Read more]

Recommendations for cardiac monitoring of adults with canalopathy on mexiletine

Cardiac monitoring is recommended in adults with muscular canalopathy treated for myotonia with mexiletine (Namuscla®), due to a possible pro-arrhythmic effect of the product. To help prescribers, a number of experts – cardiologists and neurologists from various French reference centres, and an Italian pharmacologist – have issued recommendations concerning cardiac monitoring of adults being treated, … [Read more]

Viltolarsen slows the decline in respiratory function in walking and non-walking patients

A drug targeting exon 53 skipping of the DMD gene authorised in the United States and Japan, viltolarsen was evaluated for 48 weeks (80mg/kg/week) in 10 walking and 10 non-walking DMD patients aged 8 and over, in the Galactica53 trial. The results compared with those of untreated DMD patients from an external cohort showed that … [Read more]

Real-life data for gene therapy in SMA: the German-speaking area experience

A transnational registry containing real-life data from patients with SMN1-related proximal spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) has been set up in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland: data from patients who had received onasemnogene abeparvovec gene therapy (Zolgensma®) were analysed, 343 patients with an average age of 14 months at the time of Zolgensma® administration were included … [Read more]

Dimitrios Kourtzas awarded Master Prize at JSFM 2024 – Interview

  Dimitrios Kourtzas has been awarded the Master’s Prize for his research project on collagen VI (COLVI)-related disorders at the JSFM 2024. He just started a PhD under the supervision of Valérie Allamand, in the ‘Genetics and pathophysiology of neuromuscular diseases linked to the extracellular matrix and nucleus’ team led by Gisèle Bonne, at the … [Read more]

CAR-T cells to treat severe forms of Lambert-Eaton syndrome

German researchers report the case of a patient with Lambert-Eaton syndrome (or LEMS, a presynaptic disorder of the neuromuscular junction very often of paraneoplastic origin) who benefited from an innovative therapy: the patient had an idiopathic form of LEMS, autologous anti-CD19 CAR-T cells were administered, resulting in selective depletion of B lymphocytes, positive results were … [Read more]

Report on the ‘1,000 researchers in schools’ operation

The 12th edition of the ‘1,000 researchers in schools’ operation has just come to an end. This year it ran from 4 November to 6 December. Nearly 1,500 events took place in 539 schools, introducing more than 60,000 pupils from 427 towns and cities to medical research. For the Institute, 36 experts took part in … [Read more]

New data on life expectancy in DM2

Of the 125 Dutch patients with myotonic dystrophy type 2 (DM2) recorded in the Dutch neuromuscular database, 26 died between 2000 and 2023 : the median age of these deaths was 70.9 years, compared with a life expectancy for the general population of 78.1 years; the main causes of death were cardiac (31%) and respiratory … [Read more]

ERN EURO-NMD webinar, 19 Dec. : Prof. Edoardo Malfatti (France)

Novel approaches and future developments in Neuromuscular Pathology Thursday 19 December 2024 – 16:00 – 17:00 Paris time Prof. Edoardo Malfatti (Paris-Est AP-HP, France) > + infos   Organized by EURO-NMD in collaboration with ERN-RND.