May 25, 2015
1) Rising cost of multiple sclerosis drugs in the U. S. and 2) Topic of the month: Immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy. This podcast for the Neurology Journal begins and closes with Dr. Robert Gross, Editor-in-Chief, briefly discussing highlighted articles from the print issue of Neurology. In the second segment Dr. David Jones interviews Dr. Daniel Hartung about his paper on the rising cost of multiple sclerosis drugs in the U. S. Dr. Adam Numis is reading our e-Pearl of the week about Walker-Warburg syndrome. In the next part of the podcast Dr. Ted Burns interviews Dr. Andy Mammen about the topic of treatment overview of immunotherapy for the immune-mediated myopathies. The participants had nothing to disclose except Drs. Jones, Hartung, Numis, Burns and Mammen.Dr. Jones has received personal compensation for attending consultant meetings for Biogen Idec, Novartis and Genzyme Corporation.Dr. Hartung serves on the data safety monitoring board for Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research; is a consultant for Alkermes Inc.; receives research support from Alkermes Inc. and the Center for Disease Control and National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Numis serves on the editorial team for the Neurology® Resident and Fellow Section. Dr. Ted Burns serves as Podcast Editor for Neurology®; and has received research support for consulting activities with CSL Behring and Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Dr. Mammen serves on the scientific advisory boards of aTYR Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Biogen Idec; serves as an editorial board member of Experimental Neurology and Arthritis and Rheumatism; receives license fee payments, royalties and revenue for a patent from INOVA Diagnostics Inc. for licensed test for anti-HMGCR antibodies; and research support from the NIH.