Amit Bar-Or, MD, FRCPC, Chief of the Multiple Sclerosis Division at Penn Medicine and Director of the Center for Neuroinflammation and Neurotherapeutics at the Perelman School of Medicine, discusses the latest multiple sclerosis research, including clinical trials and therapies to improve care for MS and related conditions.
Related Links: See Dr. Amit Bar-Or physician profile
Mhm. My name is Amit Bar or I'm the chief of the division of M. S. And related disorders and the director of the center for your inflammation and experimental therapeutics at the University of pennsylvania. We are in our lab research lab which is a cellular and molecular nuri immunology lab in the stimulus building at Penn School of Medicine. We now have many different treatment choices for M. S. And these have evolved because the treatments that have existed were partially effective or more effective or safe to differing extents in different patient populations. We now try to choose amongst the therapies with always in our minds the balance between risk and benefit in individuals. Penn has a unique position and opportunity as well as I think responsibility in contributing to the development of new therapies. We have a large patient base when we take excellent care of and engage and invite to participate in trials of new emerging therapies. We have a range of clinical trials in M. S. And related disorders. Our goal is particularly to focus on those studies that we think of course are important in the field and appropriate to offer certain patients, but also ones where we have an opportunity either to take leadership roles in the clinical trial or to include additional sub studies that help us learn more both about the therapy but also using the therapy basically to jiggle the complex path of physiology of M. S. And in doing so provides a unique window into the disease itself. One of the main reasons I decided to make a move to pan was because of what is truly a remarkable collegial and collaborative environment. For example, our activities with john wary from the institute of immunology including the Covid vaccine study as well as studies that cut across other departments and subspecialties. We've had the privilege over the years to contribute to some discoveries that have had considerable impact on treatments and M. S. Care and this has really produced a new generation of therapies that strike a much better balance for people living with M. S. In terms of the efficacy and safety. Over the last few years at Penn, we've had the opportunity to participate in the development and through to the approval essentially of all the recently approved therapies in multiple sclerosis. A research into multiple sclerosis at penn spans different gametes of the condition. And this is part of pens new immune health initiative which really considers the immune system to be involved in every aspect of health and illness and want to understand and understand how to measure to better gauge what distinguishes health from non health and how to restore health whenever possible. We're always enthusiastic about prospects of collaborating with people outside of Penn for new ideas and new approaches, developing new measurement platforms and other ways to improve the care and the research that we do here at Penn. There still is a great deal for us to do, and we hope to continue to make important strides to optimize the care of people living with M. S. Mhm. Yeah.
