Author Archives: Steve Bryson PhD

Gains in health-related quality of life seen with Spinraza in study

Treatment with Spinraza (nusinersen) was found to improve psychosocial function — the day-to-day ability to contend with environmental and social tasks — in people with later-onset spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in a new study of health-related quality of life. Importantly, patients’ abilities to communicate with their healthcare providers…

Study supports mandatory newborn screening in Japan

A pilot study describes how researchers successfully implemented a newborn genetic screening in Osaka, Japan, to identify infants with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) as early as possible. No false-positive results occurred in about 23,000 samples screened in the study; after implementation, newborn screening detected one presymptomatic SMA infant…