Should we expect your GP or family doctor to take on more of the day-2-day management of your MS? In the UK specialist physicians are called consultants because there was always too few of them to get their hands dirty with the day-to-day management of patients with special medical problems. General practitioners used to refer their patients to a specialist for a ‘consultation’ and...
Prof G why the sudden and recent fixation with inequality? There is overwhelming evidence that many health outcomes, including life expectancy, infant mortality, obesity, cancer survival rates, suicide, addiction and many more are linked to the level of economic inequality within society. In short, greater economic inequality leads to worse health outcomes. Inequality does not necessarily refer...
I am very excited and proud to be attending and speaking at the first European Oratoria-HAND, or O’Hand, study investigator meeting in Barcelona. With Chariot-MS, the O’HAND study is the culmination of more than 4 years of work and campaigning for Barts-MS. However, our #ThinkHand campaign will only be considered a true success if we get a positive outcome from one of our studies and a DMT...
This post has been moved to Prof G’s Medium Account.
You will have noticed that a lot of discussion on this blog has recently been devoted to the topic of secondary progression or smouldering MS or whatever else you want to call it. At the moment there is no standard terminology for describing the scenario of someone with MS who is NEDA-2 (no relapses and no activity on MRI) who is getting worse. The getting worse could be overt, i.e. worsening...
“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by” Douglas Adams, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. There is one deadline that happened quitely earlier this month. NHS England turned on the blueteq form ocrelizumab treatment for PPMSers living in England; they did at the last possible timepoint dictated by the law. The good news is that the requirements for someone...
I have been tasked with designing an International MS Masterclass to teach neurologists and other HCPS (healthcare professionals) about MS. The idea is to run four 2-day courses. I have put together the following draft programme and would appreciate your thoughts on it. If you have MS is there anything that you want to be added, i.e. is there anything that you would want your HCPs to know about...
It is time to set in stone our #CrowdThink competition results. We had over 110 responses; thank you. If you want to know more about the rationale behind this competition you need to read my post on the DODO trial and the post explaining the rationale behind the COMPETITION. Study 1: Oral Ponesimod Versus Teriflunomide In Relapsing MUltiple Sclerosis (OPTIMUM). The Crowd has predicted that...
As I write this I am on the way back from an ‘atypical’ summer holiday with my family. We spent a week in the ‘Oude Land’, South Africa, celebrating my mother in law’s 80th Birthday and then a week in the subtropics for some warm sunshine. The internet access was dismal, which was a good thing that allowed me to switch-off, sleep, eat, exercise, think, relax and recharge my batteries. ...
I was in the Netherlands at a science meeting (Yep ProfG let’s me out occasionally) and a pharma (marketing) person gave a presentation. They were there for the people with MS and it wasn’t all about the money. Now the Dutch are not known for their tact and tend to say it how it is, from their prospective, and “mushroom food” was uttered. I think Jeffery J in the audience...