The best and worst of times in therapy development for myasthenia gravis |
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Authors: | Michael Benatar MD PhD Gary Cutter PhD Henry J. Kaminski MD |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Neurology, University of Miami, Miami, Florida;2. Department of Biostatistics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama Contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Writing - review & editing;3. Department of Neurology & Rehabilitation Medicine, George Washington University, Washington, DC |
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Abstract: | Within the last 5 years, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved complement and neonatal Fc receptor (FcRN) inhibitors for treatment of generalized myasthenia gravis, and several other therapies are in late-stage clinical trials or under regulatory review. However, questions about which patients are most likely to benefit from which therapies, and the relative effectiveness of these very expensive drugs, has resulted in uncertainty around the place that they should occupy in the existing therapeutic armamentarium. MGNet (a Rare Diseases Clinical Research Consortium funded by the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke) held two meetings during the 14th International Conference of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America to discuss the most critical needs for clinical trial readiness and biomarker development in the context of therapy development for myasthenia gravis. Herein we provide a summary of these discussions, but not a consensus opinion, and offer a series of recommendations to guide focused research in the most critical areas. We welcome ongoing discussion through comments on this work. |
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Keywords: | clinical trials myasthenia gravis Myasthenia Gravis---Activities of Daily Living outcome measures quantitative myasthenia gravis score |
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