ECTRIMS 2019: Final Thoughts From Stockholm

ECTRIMS 2019 has officially ended.  It is safe to say that it was a huge three days and I am exhausted!  I really hope that you have enjoyed the video summaries from Day 1 and Day 2.  With the conference having finished, I thought it was worth writing a brief article to wrap up the proceedings from Stockholm.

DAY 3 THOUGHTS

I would say that the main theme of the talks that I went to today was up and coming treatments.  In particular, there were very promising results presented from the ASCLEPIOS I and II Phase 3 trials that showed that ofatumumab could be an effective and safe new treatment for multiple sclerosis. 

Similarly, there were some impressive results presented for alemtuzumab.  The data shown indicated that 70% of people treated with the drug were able to experience disease suppression out to 12 years.  However, as Professor Alasdair Coles pointed out, it is important to note that this treatment required multiple doses to achieve this effect and there was very little time where the individual was at no risk of any adverse events. 

As well as this, A/Prof Tomas Kalincik from The University of Melbourne, presented some very nice work using large observational data.  This work, which was undertaken by a member of his team, Dr Sifat Sharmin, at the Clinical Outcome Research (CORe) Unit, identified a number of key characteristics that were associated with recovery or no recovery after a worsening of disease.

Lastly, I spent the day having a number of interesting meetings with researchers and other members of the MS community from around the world.  I will touch on these further in the next section.

ECTRIMS 2019 OVERALL THOUGHTS

It was a fantastic opportunity for me to once again attend the biggest multiple sclerosis research conference.  I thought that there were a number of interesting talks across a wide range of themes.  I was particularly happy to see that there was a large focus on progressive MS, remyelination, the treatment of symptoms, stem cell trials, novel treatments and the use of real world data to better understand the effectiveness and safety of current therapies.

It was also equally exciting for me to be able to have a number of fantastic meetings with various members of the MS community that were in attendance.  This included researchers, members of international MS organisations and companies launching important initiatives to improve brain health.

I also want to take this opportunity to say a special thank you to Dr Travis Stiles.  Travis’ attendance and input at the meeting was invaluable.  It was an honour and great fun to be able to record a number of pieces of content with him to provide updates to you on the discussions that were occurring at the ECTRIMS 2019 meeting.  I’m sure you will all join me in thanking Travis for his continued contributions to MStranslate’s activities.

WHAT COMES NEXT?

It is fantastic to report that MStranslate has a lot of exciting content still to share with you from the conference.  We have interviews about a mesenchymal stem cell trial that provided positive results, an update on the status of HSCT as a treatment for MS, the use of large registries in MS research and an insight into the work of a large international MS organisation. 

MStranslate will also likely be featuring interviews and video content related to major quality of life studies, research into the use of ‘worms’ as a novel treatment option for MS, as well as trials into other new treatments for multiple sclerosis.

If that wasn’t enough, MStranslate will also be hosting another Facebook Live Q&A session with co-founder Brett Drummond in the near future.  This will enable our community to come online, hear more about the outcomes discussed at ECTRIMS 2019, ask questions and engage in discussion with Brett about these topics.