[Stellatum]

I'm not medically literate enough to know if this is big news or not, but I'm passing on this link: "AAN: Rituximab Effective in Myasthenia Gravis"

http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AAN/19555

Abby

[brandonc]

I know that the first thing my neuro would say about this is that its a good sign but there were only 13 people in the study so it wasn't a very good study.

[neutro]

My neuro proposed me to try Rituximab as I'm refractive to IVIGs and Cellcept, sustained large doses of Pred are not very effective and I have PLEX each 10 or 15 days in the meantime…
One presentation in a Paris meeting in late December gave about the same conclusions (maybe the same study?), but it indicated also that the initial improvement did not last after the first 6 months or so, which was the period of time for the Rituximab injections…
I haven't made up my mind yet!
Maurice.

[drabguy]

I saw that story and was very excited. Even though the study wasn't that thorough and was very short-term, the big news for me is that it involved an existing, already approved drug, not some experimental drug years away (if ever) from approval. I haven't seen anything like this in the 2+ years that I have been following MG. Hopefully his study will continue and we'll get to see what the long-term results are.

[Nicknerd]

Maurice,

I swear...You and I must have the same 'type' of MG....Have you tried Imuran yet? I'm using that now, and am hoping it'll work much better than prednisone ever did....

Nicky

[neutro]

Hi Nicky,
My neuro told me that since Imuran is in the same class of immunosuppressors as Cellcept, it wouldn't be more effective...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18493241
Maurice.