The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has granted marketing authorisation for Zilbrysq as an add-on to standard therapy.

Also known as zilucoplan, the drug treats generalised myasthenia gravis (gMG) among adult patients who are anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibody positive.

Zilucoplan is the first once-daily subcutaneous, targeted peptide inhibitor of complement component 5 (C5 inhibitor) and the only self-administered gMG therapy for use by adult patients with AChR antibody positive gMG.

gMG is a rare autoimmune condition which impacts 15 individuals per every one million people across the UK.

Those living with gMG can experience a variety of symptoms, including severe muscular weakness that can result in double vision, drooping eyelids, difficulty with swallowing, chewing and talking, as well as life-threatening weakness of respiratory muscles.

Nadeem Aurangzeb, Head of Rare Disease at UCB UK, explained: “The approval of zilucoplan for generalised myasthenia gravis is a significant milestone for the rare disease community in the UK.”

He added: “At UCB we are committed to exploring innovative solutions that support people to live their lives free from the burden of their condition and we are proud to deliver a new treatment option for adults living with this rare, life-limiting and debilitating condition.”

Professor Saiju Jacob, Consultant Neurologist at University Hospitals Birmingham, concluded: “Generalised myasthenia gravis is a highly disabling condition which impacts every aspect of a person’s life. Zilucoplan offers a welcome, new treatment option for people with the potential to make a real improvement in their lives and their experience of the condition.”

A new stroke therapy that delivers electrical pulses to the brain via a portable, pacemaker-type device during rehabilitation therapy will be tested in a pioneering trial.

It represents an attempt to improve arm recovery after stroke.

The new study is being led by researchers from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Sheffield, and is funded by a partnership between the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Medical Research Council and the Association of British Neurologists Fellowship.

Additional funding has also come from the Stroke Association and Berkeley Foundation.

The research becomes the first to establish if a treatment – known as transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation – can improve hand and arm weakness in stroke survivors when used as a self-delivered treatment during stroke rehabilitation therapy.

The £2m TRICEPS trial, will build on the results of a recent clinical trial which showed that stimulating damaged areas of the brain using invasive vagus nerve stimulation improved arm recovery in stroke survivors when combined with stroke therapy, more than therapy alone.

Up to 243 patients from 15 UK stroke centres are set to be enrolled into the trial during the next two years. Meanwhile, it will also involve researchers from the University of Nottingham and the University of Glasgow, alongside the University of Sheffield’s Clinical Trial Research Unit.

Professor Arshad Majid, Consultant Neurologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, explained: “We are really excited to be launching this new study. In a very small preliminary trial, we showed that gently ‘tickling’ a nerve at the ear using mild electrical pulses improved arm and hand weakness after stroke when used in conjunction with stroke rehabilitation therapy.”