CLAREMONT - Ms. Magazine celebrated four decades of feminist journalism with a panel discussion at Scripps College Thursday night in which an editor said the magazine is taking a strong stance against anti-abortion extremists. "These are not lone wolves who are acting out of a deep moral sense of their concern over unborn children," said Ms. Magazine executive editor Kathy Spillar. "This is a network of domestic terrorists that functions like every other network of terrorists. They recruit, they arm, they plan their targets and they commit the violence. All we've ever had until now is the prosecution of the one person who actually plants the bomb or pulls the trigger. "And until you dismantle the network that's behind the terrorism you're never going to see an end to it. We face a very real terrorist threat in this country that is using abortion. They're also very anti-government of any kind. They're usually also very racist and this is a network that will continue to commit violence and perpetuate this mythology that abortion is controversial. And this is hurting us terribly." Legal abortion, Spillar said, has been settled and is not a "real" debate. "Forty percent plus of women will … Continue reading →

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Genzyme, a Sanofi company (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY), announced today the publication of results from the LEMTRADA (alemtuzumab) CARE-MS I and CARE-MS II pivotal studies in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) in the November 1, 2012 online issue of The Lancet. In CARE-MS I and CARE-MS II, LEMTRADA was significantly more effective at reducing annualized relapse rates than the active comparator Rebif (high dose subcutaneous interferon beta-1a), and more patients on LEMTRADA were relapse-free at two years. In addition, in CARE-MS II, accumulation of disability was significantly slowed in patients given LEMTRADA vs. Rebif. Further, patients treated with LEMTRADA were significantly more likely to experience improvement in disability scores than those treated with Rebif, suggesting a reversal of disability in some patients. There is a tremendous unmet need for treatments that address the progression of disability that people living with multiple sclerosis can experience, said Genzyme President and CEO, David Meeker, MD. Genzyme set a new standard by comparing LEMTRADA exclusively to an approved treatment in all of our studies. Publication of these findings by The Lancet highlights the importance of these results to the MS community. CARE-MS I and CARE-MS II Efficacy Results CARE-MS … Continue reading →

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Multiple Sclerosis Also Included In: Neurology / Neuroscience;Clinical Trials / Drug Trials Article Date: 02 Nov 2012 - 3:00 PDT Current ratings for: "Rebooting" MS Drug Succeeds In Trials 5 (2 votes) 4.67 (3 votes) Alastair Compston, a professor from the University of Cambridge was principal investigator on both trials and also chaired the Steering Committee that supervised them and an earlier trial. He said in a statement from the University: "Our research shows the transformative effect that alemtuzumab can have for people with MS." The findings mark the conclusion of a unique development program for an MS drug that started in Cambridge in 1991. The statement from the University says: "Never before has an MS drug been tested in clinical outcomes against such a high hurdle, an active first-line drug, in both one phase II trial and two phase III trials; and no drug for MS has been shown to be more effective, in both reducing the risk of disability and reducing the rate of brain atrophy, when compared to another active treatment." MS is an autoimmune disease where the patient's immune system destroys nerve fibers and their protective insulation, the myelin sheath. … Continue reading →