The purpose of this page is to tell you about any new studies being conducted or new information that I have found. A lot of what I post here is sent to me from friends by email, so if anyone comes across any information that you think would be beneficial to this page, please email me and I will try to post it, thank you. I will keep updating this page as I get more information.

I just received information from an inividual visiting my page, that there is a study for a pill form of copaxone. I will post here as soon as I get more information. Lets keep our fingers crossed that those needles can be a thing of the past.

Boston Life Sciences' Collaborating Scientists Achieve 'Unprecedented' Optic Nerve Regeneration BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 15, 2000-- Results of Animal Studies Published in Today's Issue of the Journal of Neuroscience

Boston Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLSI) announced that collaborating scientists in Department of Neurosurgery at Children's Hospital, Boston had discovered a methodology to stimulate regeneration of the optic nerve to a degree far greater than has previously been documented in the scientific literature. The results of their studies were published today in The Journal of Neuroscience, one of the leading peer-reviewed neuroscience journals. In the article, written by Dr. Larry Benowitz and colleagues (20; 4615; 200) the authors describe how retinal ganglion cells that give rise to the optic nerve could be stimulated to regenerate optic nerve fibers following an experimental crush injury to the optic nerve. Not only was the amount of regeneration far greater than has ever been reported previously elsewhere, but in addition these regenerated fibers were observed to pass through the crush injury and extend for several millimeters distally along the degenerated optic nerve tract towards the brain. Such substantial nerve growth through a crush injury has never been previously described. The mechanism and factors responsible for this regeneration have tentatively been identified by these scientists. Boston Life Sciences holds the exclusive license to these factors from Children's Hospital, Boston. "The immense achievement described in this article represents another breakthrough by Dr. Benowitz in understanding the mechanisms and factors responsible for stimulating regeneration of the optic nerve. The optimal conditions necessary for optic nerve regeneration turn out to be somewhat different than those necessary for spinal cord regeneration, which the same team accomplished last year," stated Dr. Marc Lanser, Chief Scientific Officer of BLSI. "While it appears that AF-1 alone stimulates regeneration in the spinal cord, in the eye a co-stimulant is necessary to achieve maximal regeneration. With the discovery of this co-stimulant factor, our CNS programs have greatly strengthened BLSI's proprietary position in optic nerve regeneration. In addition to AF-1 and Inosine, we will now develop these co-stimulatory molecules as therapeutics for optic nerve regeneration. We hope to provide the first regenerative therapy for glaucoma using this approach," added Dr. Lanser. BLSI is developing novel diagnostics and therapeutics for Parkinson's Disease (PD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD) as well as treatments for cancer, autoimmune disease, and central nervous system disorders. BLSI's products in development include: Altropane, a radioimaging agent for the diagnosis of PD and ADHD; Troponin I, a naturally-occurring anti-angiogenesis factor for the treatment of solid tumors; AF-1 and Inosine, nerve growth factors for the treatment of acute and chronic CNS disorders; fusion toxins for the treatment of cancer and multiple sclerosis; novel therapies for the treatment of PD and ADHD; and transcription factors that may control the expression of molecules associated with autoimmune disease and allergies.

Immune System Repairs Damaged Nerves in Experiment By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers said on Monday they had harnessed the immune system to help repair nerves in mice in an experiment they said may one day mean a treatment for multiple sclerosis and similar diseases. They said they had found antibodies that could call in forces to help repair the fatty myelin sheath that surrounds nerves. In their experimental mice, this process reversed the damage done by multiple sclerosis (MS), Dr. Moses Rodriguez, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota who led the study, said. ``The immune system plays a critical role in the repair of the nervous system,´´ Rodriguez said in a telephone interview. ``We know about the role antibodies play against viruses and bacteria. The same concept can take place in protecting against injury. The idea was if we could boost that immune response, we could then help patients.´´ Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Rodriguez and colleagues said they had spent years looking for antibodies that would attach to nerve cells called oligodendrocytes. ``Oligodendrocytes are the cells that make the myelin, the covering around the nerves, and that is what is affected in diseases like MS,´´ Rodriguez said. ``We screened antibodies to find those that reacted against oligodendrocytes. When we put these antibodies into the animals we saw significant effects.´´ Rodriguez's team used mice that had been infected with a virus that causes symptoms identical to MS in the animals. The virus does not affect humans, but is related to the polio virus, Rodriguez said. ``We can put this virus into the mice and literally 100 percent of the time when we put it in, we get MS,´´ Rodriguez said. Then they purified the antibodies -- which were human antibodies -- and put them into the mice. They worked. ``The amount of myelin we saw was just really spectacular,´´ Rodriguez said. The repair was as good as or better than that seen in a current treatment for MS, human intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg), the researchers said. Rodriguez said they did not let the mice live long enough to see whether the replenishment of the myelin affected their physical symptoms, which include weakness, clumsiness and stiffness. People with MS often eventually have to use wheelchairs because of the damage. Now they are trying the treatment out for longer in mice to see if their physical symptoms are affected. Because MS can be caused so easily in mice by the virus, Rodriguez thinks a similar virus may be the cause of human MS. Researchers have been unable to find the cause but Rodriguez said that does not affect this particular treatment. ``You wouldn´t have to understand the virus,´´ he said. ´´That is the beauty of it. You wouldn´t have to have a clue as to what the cause of MS is.´´ They have the complete genetic sequences of the antibodies, which can help in further research. Rodriguez warned that it would be years before such a treatment could be tried in people. ``It´s a long ways away,´´ he said. ``That is an important issue for patients to understand, not to give them false hopes. But at the same time you have to have some hope.´´ The researchers are now working with the privately held Acorda Therapeutics Inc. to try and create a version that could be tested in humans. They said the same approach might be used in a range of diseases affecting the nervous system. Rodriguez said he thinks the finding could have broader applications. ``We think there is something about the immune system that is critical in protecting the nervous system,´´ he said. ``You can think of a lot of diseases that affect the nervous system.´´ MS affects about 350,000 Americans.

Possible Link Between Chlamydia and MS Studied National MS Society-supported investigators at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine reported in the July issue of Annals of Neurology a possible association between infection with the common bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae and multiple sclerosis. Evidence of current or prior infection by the bacterium was found in all of a small group of individuals with relapsing and progressive forms of multiple sclerosis. The bacterium can cause mild "walking" pneumonia, and most of the general population, with or without MS, has been exposed to it. These findings need to be confirmed, but in themselves do not establish the bacterium as a definitive trigger or cause of MS. There is currently no evidence that antibiotics capable of fighting Chlamydia pneumoniae infection can alter the course of MS. Further studies supported by the National MS Society are now in motion to explore these findings.

Reprinted from Forward! October/November 1999

A new book that explains M.S to children is now available. This book features a colorful character named "Nervo" who explains what M.S does to their parents, in terms that are easy for them to uderstand. The book is available by contacting your local National Multiple Sclerosis Society chapter, and through Betaseron®.

You can click on the links to these websites on my main page.

To read the entire article please visit the Betaseron® web site and follow these instructions.....

Go to the MS and You section, then click on Betaseron Network, click on Betaseron Network again and finally click on When Mom or Dad has M.S.

Cannabis Trials Get Go-ahead From the Press Association Thursday April 6, 2000 7:52 pm Britain's drug regulatory authority has given the go-ahead for the first full-scale patient trials of therapeutic cannabis products. The Phase Two trials will involve patients suffering from multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, severe pain and spasticity. GW Pharmaceuticals, which has a Home Office licence to use cannabis in medical research, was given permission for the trials by the Medicines Control Agency. The company said the trials, taking place at a number of locations, would commence "in the near future" and recruit some 2,000 patients over the next two to three years. The first trial will be led by Dr Willy Notcutt at the Pain Relief Clinic at the James Paget Hospital, Great Yarmouth. Dr Notcutt said: "Our aim is to test some of the claims which have been made for the medicinal qualities of cannabis in a structured clinical research programme. "This is an exciting moment, and we hope very much that our findings will lead to significant improvements in the pain relief available for sufferers of MS and other debilitating conditions." Patients will take different formulations of compounds derived from cannabis using an under-the-tongue spray. The aim of the programme is to develop cannabis-based prescription medicines which could be on sale as early as 2003.