Key TakeawaysData shows that minority patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience a greater incidence of disability from the condition. However, few studies have explored the effects of MS and its treatments specifically on minority groups.A groundbreaking new study is evaluating the impact of a leading MS treatment on minority patients.Starting aggressive treatment early in the disease process can prevent permanent neurological damage and delay disability for people with MS.

Key Takeaways

Data shows that minority patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience a greater incidence of disability from the condition. However, few studies have explored the effects of MS and its treatments specifically on minority groups.A groundbreaking new study is evaluating the impact of a leading MS treatment on minority patients.Starting aggressive treatment early in the disease process can prevent permanent neurological damage and delay disability for people with MS.

To help address the disparity, researchers are seeking Black and Hispanic Americans with relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS) to participate in a new clinical trial called theCHIMES study. The study will explore the effect of one of the first-line MS drug treatments, a medication called ocrelizumab, on the progression of RMS in minorities.

What Are Health Disparities and Why Do They Matter?

What Is Multiple Sclerosis?Multiple sclerosis (MS)is an autoimmune disorder where the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the sheaths around the nerves in the brain, spinal cord, andoptic nervesin the eyes.

What Is Multiple Sclerosis?

Multiple sclerosis (MS)is an autoimmune disorder where the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the sheaths around the nerves in the brain, spinal cord, andoptic nervesin the eyes.

Studying MS Treatments

A medication called ocrelizumab (Ocrevus) is one of the main MS treatments. It’s a monoclonal antibody that targets the type of white blood cell (B lymphocyte) that becomes overactive and causes nerve damage in people with MS.

Ocrelizumab was the first drug that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved to treat both types of MS: relapsing and primary progressive.Currently, there are no other FDA-approved treatments for primary progressive MS (PPMS).

How Is MS Treated?

Addressing the Lack of Diversity

Decades of research lacking in diversity has led to the belief that MS is most common in White women. However, more recent research has shown that not only is the incidence of MS in Black and Hispanic patients higher than previously thought, but that minority MS patients tend to experience more disability from the disease.

That’s one reason why the CHIMES Study intends to specifically look at the effects of ocrelizumab on minority populations.

Barry A. Hendin, MD, a board-certified neurologist and Director of theMultiple Sclerosis Center of Arizona, tells Verywell that most studies that have been done before were either based in the United States or Europe and “looked at Caucasian populations and had a smaller number of underrepresented communities, particularly African American and Hispanic communities.”

Mitzi Joi Williams, MDWe don’t have a lot of information about MS in the Black population, but we have evidence that suggests that it is more aggressive in the Black population.

Mitzi Joi Williams, MD

We don’t have a lot of information about MS in the Black population, but we have evidence that suggests that it is more aggressive in the Black population.

In the CHIMES Study, Hendin says that the researchers “are going to actively try to change the culture and create a study to look at the biology and characteristics of MS in African American and Hispanic patients and how our agent works differently depending upon the population.”

Mitzi Joi Williams, MD, a board-certified neurologist and founder of theJoi Life Wellness Groupin Smyrna, Georgia, sees a diverse patient population. She tells Verywell that the researchers will solicit input from participants living with MS to better understand the impact of the disease on their daily lives.

What Causes MS?

“We don’t have a lot of information about MS in the Black population, but we have evidence that suggests that it is more aggressive in the Black population,” says Williams. “Walking disability may occur up to six years earlier than counterparts of other ethnicities. They have worse visual problems, are admitted to nursing homes sooner, and their mortality is higher at younger ages."

According to Williams, researchers have “seen this data over time,” but they “don’t understand what’s causing these discrepancies.” Therefore, the CHIMES Study is “a good opportunity to learn more in a controlled setting.”

How the Study Will Work

The researchers are seeking toenroll about 150 MS patients—half Black and the other half Hispanic American—who are not currently taking an immune modifying medication.

The researchers will follow the study participants for one year using several markers of disease progression:

Is There a Genetic Test for MS?

Benefit of Earlier, More Aggressive Treatment

Neurologists used to start with moderate treatment for MS, then escalate care as a patient’s condition got worse—but that’s no longer the standard.

Barry A. Hendin, MD

How to Find an MS Doctor

A Patient’s Perspective

Over six years,Azure Antoinette, who is Black, experienced a succession of unexplained, troubling symptoms: difficulty writing, trouble holding things, tingling, and loss of sensation. Then, she became seriously ill with what doctors thought was an inner ear infection. In her early 20s, Antionette lost her ability to walk.

Azure AntoinetteThe only way that we can get ahead is to study and gain more knowledge, but we cannot gain more knowledge if we don’t have minorities included in studies.

Azure Antoinette

The only way that we can get ahead is to study and gain more knowledge, but we cannot gain more knowledge if we don’t have minorities included in studies.

She visited multiple doctors and six different hospitals looking for answers. Eventually, an ER physician suggested that she may have MS, which finally gave her a diagnosis to explain her symptoms.

Azure AntoinetteThe Black experience of MS is uniquely different from the rest of the population.

The Black experience of MS is uniquely different from the rest of the population.

Today, Antoinette is a fierce MS advocate—particularly for minority patients. “MS disproportionately affects Black people more severely than any other race,” Antoinette tells Verywell. “Not only is it bad on its own, but our symptoms are more debilitating. The Black experience of MS is uniquely different from the rest of the population.”

Antoinette speaks publicly about the urgent need for greater minority representation in MS research. “We need advancement, resources, and solutions for living with this disease, but before we get these things, we must have urgency and widespread representation about MS—not just for the disease, but for the disparities and the difficulty in managing a condition that continues to prove elusive.”

That representation starts at the clinical trial level.

“The only way that we can get ahead is to study and gain more knowledge, but we cannot gain more knowledge if we don’t have minorities included in studies,” Antionette says.

What This Means For YouResearchers are hoping to find out more about how a drug that is commonly used to treat multiple sclerosis performs in minority patients with the disease. To learn more, visit theCHIMES Studyhomepage (available in both English andSpanish)

What This Means For You

Researchers are hoping to find out more about how a drug that is commonly used to treat multiple sclerosis performs in minority patients with the disease. To learn more, visit theCHIMES Studyhomepage (available in both English andSpanish)

3 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration.FDA approves new drug to treat multiple sclerosis.

National Multiple Sclerosis Society.Treating PPMS.

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