Special Episode: I'm the First Participant in a CAR-T Cell Therapy Clinical Trial with Jan Janisch-Hanzlik
Release Date: 12/04/2025
Episode 447: Walking with Many Sisters Toward a Cure with Brigitte Delaney
RealTalk MS
In 1988, there were just 42 Walk MS events, raising approximately $4 million. In 2025, there were 170 events across the country that raised over $30 million. As the largest private funder of MS research in the world, the National MS Society relies on funds raised at events like Walk MS to continue supporting the work that brings us closer to cures. This week, Brigitte Delaney, an amazing fundraiser and captain of the Many Sisters Walk MS team, shares her story, talks about the origin of the Many Sisters team, and offers her recipe for successful fundraising. We're also sharing...
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Episode 446: MS Advocacy and the National MS Society's Public Policy Conference with Steffany Stern
RealTalk MS
175 MS activists are heading to Washington, D.C. next week for the National MS Society’s Public Policy Conference. Their mission: to bring the concerns of the MS community directly to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. When it comes to the legislative support for healthcare and medical research, it's no secret that these are unusual times. Joining me to brief us on the National MS Society's ongoing advocacy efforts and give us a sneak peek at the specific legislative issues we'll be taking to Capitol Hill is the National MS Society's Vice President of Advocacy, Steffany Stern. We'll...
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Episode 445: It's MS Awareness Week with Kristine Werner Ozug and Kim, Kim, and Kim
RealTalk MS
It’s MS Awareness Week, and this year we’re diving into a theme that hits home for millions: Unseen MS. Multiple sclerosis is a master of disguise; it can be entirely invisible to the naked eye while remaining profoundly life-altering for the person living it. In this episode, we’re exploring the spectrum of the MS experience through two distinct, yet deeply connected stories. First, you'll hear from RealTalk MS team member Kristine Werner Ozug. Kristine shares what it’s like to navigate a world that doesn’t always see her struggle, and how her "mostly invisible"...
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Episode 444: Treating MS with a GLP-1 with Dr. Ellen Mowry
RealTalk MS
You know them by their trade names such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound. This class of medications is known as GLP-1 receptor agonists. And while they are best known for managing diabetes and promoting weight loss, researchers are finding that these drugs are also effective in a broad range of other health conditions. So, what about MS? My guest this week is Dr. Ellen Mowry, the principal investigator of a clinical trial to determine whether a GLP-1 drug can reduce brain inflammation and provide neuroprotection in people living with progressive MS. We're sharing details...
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Episode 443: The 2026 ACTRIMS Forum (Part 3) with Dr. Helen Tremlett, Dr. Ilana Katz Sand, and Kathy Smith
RealTalk MS
Welcome back to the third and final part of our coverage of the 2026 ACTRIMS Forum. This week's episode bridges the gap between groundbreaking clinical research and the nuanced reality of living with MS every day. First, we'll dive into the "before" and "after" of a diagnosis, starting with Dr. Helen Tremlett’s insights into the MS prodrome—those subtle, early signs that appear years before typical MS symptoms. We'll also talk with Dr. Tremlett about how other health conditions can predict long-term outcomes in sometimes surprising ways. Dr. Ilana Katz Sand shares her latest...
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Episode 442: The 2026 ACTRIMS Forum (Part 2) with Dr. Jeffrey Cohen, Dr. Daniel Ontaneda, and Kristine Werner Ozug
RealTalk MS
Welcome back to Part Two of our coverage of the 2026 ACTRIMS Forum. This week, we shift our focus to emerging therapies and clinical insights that are re-shaping the future of MS care. From the latest information on stem cell transplantation to evolving treatment strategies to the labels used to describe MS, we’re breaking down the complex science into the conversations that matter most to the MS community. Joining me to discuss one of the most significant presentations from the 2026 ACTRIMS Forum is Dr. Jeffrey Cohen, who opened the event with the Kenneth P. Johnson Memorial...
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Episode 441: The 2026 ACTRIMS Forum with Dr. Manuel Friese, Dr. Amit Bar-Or, and Dr. Haritha Desu
RealTalk MS
Last week, over 1,400 scientists and clinicians gathered in San Diego, California, at the 2026 Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis annual meeting, better known as the ACTRIMS Forum. This week, in Part One of our coverage, you'll hear from three of the experts who presented their research at the ACTRIMS Forum. Dr. Manuel Friese, a clinician-scientist at the Institute of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Hamburg, Germany, where he serves as the Director of the Center for Molecular...
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Episode 440: An MS Specialist's Response to the FDA with Dr. William Conte
RealTalk MS
This past December, the FDA issued a Complete Response Letter to drug manufacturer Sanofi in response to Sanofi's application seeking approval for Tolebrutinib, the first in a new category of investigational disease-modifying therapies to undergo FDA review. A Complete Response Letter is an official letter from the FDA to a drug manufacturer stating that the agency can't approve a new medicine in its current form. It's not an outright "no" that kills a project; it's more like a "not yet." However, this Complete Response Letter raised some issues which, at first...
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Episode 439: Preventing MS with Dr. Bruce Bebo
RealTalk MS
The first coordinated global research strategy to prevent MS has been announced. This week, Dr. Bruce Bebo, the National MS Society's Executive Vice President and Chief Research & Medical Affairs Officer, joins me to explain what MS prevention looks like and how experts plan to achieve this remarkable goal. We'll also tell you who won the 2025 Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research, and we'll explain how their groundbreaking research impacts MS care. We're sharing the details of a newly announced partnership designed to reduce delays in getting an MS diagnosis and expand...
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Episode 438: The Discovery of 2 MS Subtypes with Dr. Arman Eshaghi
RealTalk MS
One of the more confusing aspects of MS is that it can present differently from one person to the next. A research team at University College London may have uncovered a reason for that when they identified two new, and quite different, subtypes of MS. Joining me to walk us through this discovery and to explain how it may impact MS clinical care is the study's principal investigator, Dr. Arman Eshaghi. We're also sharing study results that may explain how the Epstein-Barr Virus triggers MS in some individuals. We'll tell you about the free online fitness and wellness...
info_outlineWelcome to a RealTalk MS special series on MS clinical trials. This special series is made possible through a generous grant from Sanofi.
In this final episode of this series, you'll meet Jan Janisch-Hanzlik. Jan lives with MS and is a participant in one of the clinical trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of CAR-T cell therapy for MS.
In CAR-T cell therapy, blood is taken from the patient or a healthy donor, much as you would donate blood. This blood is sent to a lab, where the white blood cells, or T-cells, are separated out and reprogrammed to carry a receptor designed to fight a particular condition. This receptor is known as a chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR.
Over several weeks in the lab, these fortified T-cells multiply until there are millions of them, then they're reintroduced to the patient by intravenous infusion. CAR-T cell therapy is already used to treat some blood cancers, and Jan is the first person in the world to receive this one-and-done treatment to treat MS. She's joining us to share her experience participating in the clinical trial and to give us an update on how she's doing following her treatment.
This special episode of RealTalk MS is made possible by a generous grant from Sanofi. Sanofi has two ongoing Phase 3 clinical trials in MS studying Frexalimab, an investigational second-generation anti-CD40 ligand monoclonal antibody. If you are interested in learning more about these clinical trials, please visit SanofiStudies.com
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