OhioHealth Medical Minute: OhioHealth First To Give New FDA Approved Multiple Sclerosis Medication
A few weeks ago, Dr. Jacqueline Nicholas of the OhioHealth Neuroscience team was the first in the county to give a new multiple sclerosis medication to a patient. The drug is called Mayzent. Here is more from Dr. Nicholas.
Multiple-Sclerosis Medical minute
MT: “Hello once again, everyone, and thank you for joining us for another OhioHealth Medical Minute. My name is Marcus Thorpe. Happy to be joined by Dr. Jaqueline Nicholas? who’s an MS specialist with OhioHealth Neuroscience. Dr. Nicholas, thanks for joining us.”
JN: “Thank you.”
MT: “All right, let’s talk. I know some really big news coming out, especially here at OhioHealth. A new MS drug, and we were the first to give it to a patient. Tell me a little bit about that.”
JN: “Absolutely. So the drug is called Mayzent. Its generic name is Siponimod, and this drug is an oral pill used for multiple sclerosis. It was actually studied in a large clinical trial in folks with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. That’s a type of MS where people may still be having relapses or attacks, but outside the attacks, they also have a decline in neurologic function.”
MT: “Tell us about how this drug is as different as another drug that may have been used for the same kind of MS progression.”
JN: “So this drug is kind of neat. It’s similar to another agent that’s already been out for MS, called Fingolimod, however, it is different with how it binds within the body. It actually binds to white blood cells and keeps them within lymphnodes to prevent them from getting into the brain and the spinal cord to cause inflammation. But a neat thing about this drug is that it also binds centrally, so it has different binding potential within the brain that the other drug does not.”
MT: “I know I’ve heard you and other doctors here at OhioHealth say, ‘Look multiple sclerosis is a tough disease to fight, but now is maybe the best time to have MS because of everything we have.’ Talk about that and why that really does ring true.”
JN: “Absolutely. So if you look back to the 1990s, that was when we came out with our first treatments for MS. Although that was exciting, at best, they were mildly effective, and folks continue to have progression. At this point, we now have numerous options, as far as pills, infusions, injections available to treat this disease.”
MT: “Dr. Nicholas, great information. Thanks very much.”
JN: “Thanks for having me.”
MT: “And if you’d like more information on the world of multiple sclerosis within OhioHealth, just go to ohiohealth.com. I’m Marcus Thorpe. Thanks for joining us for this OhioHealth Medical Minute.”
