Published on April 2, 2010
Michael Levy, MD, PhD – Johns Hopkins University:
We recognize that NMO patients have a range of relapse rates. Some patients present with multiple relapses, one after the other, and other patients can go years between relapses. We put all of our data together in the U.S., and we found that, on average, the median relapse rate is once every seven months untreated and once every 15 months on treatment. So despite treatment, there’s still a relapse rate of about once every 15 months.
Since the discovery of the APQ-4 antibody in 2004 the spectrum of NMO has dramatically changed and evolved to what we now consider NMOSD.
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The short answer is yes. The long answer is we don't know how that happens...after a patient relapses and we suppress the inflammation
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Spinal cord damage occurs in all patients with NMO, because it's one of the essential diagnostic criteria for NMO.
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In NMO, the immune system is too active, so all of our treatments are really directed at decreasing the immune system.
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