Dr. Tuan Vu, of the University of South Florida, explains the evolving treatments for advances managing patients with myasthenia gravis

 

 

 

Transcription:

My name is Tuan Vu. I’m a professor of neurology at the University of South Florida in Tampa. I’ve been involved in MG treatment all my career pretty much, next year going to be 30 years.

Up until very recently—and that would be around 2017—we treat this condition with a generic immunosuppressant, non-steroidal immunosuppressant, and we didn’t have a target. We basically just carpet bombed the immune system hoping for the best. But since 2017, when we have the first complement inhibitor, the paradigm has changed. We have targeted therapy now, and the other treatments, some of them have a very long latency of onset reaction.

With the newer drugs, we certainly can see the effect within a week or two of initiating treatment. That satisfies that urge to have a quick and easy answer. With some exceptions, they tend to be a little bit safer. Of course, you pay for that, they cost a lot. So, I think that’s the limiting factor for current therapy.

To learn more about myasthenia gravis and other autoimmune diseases: https://checkrare.com/diseases/autoimmune-auto-inflammatory-disorders/