The Handoff: Your Week in Neurology News – 5/25/17

The Handoff is a weekly roundup of neurology news covering various developments in subspecialties, the pharmaceutical industry, and the overall state of health care as it affects neurologists.

— Genetic analysis has shown that the Zika virus had circulated in some regions for up to 1 year before recognition by public health officials. 

— President Trump still intends on making major budget cuts to the NIH, FDA, and other health care entities according to a leaked budget proposal. 

— Ozanimod, an investigational oral, selective S1P 1 and 5 receptor modulator, met its primary endpoint of reducing annualized relapse rate in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis in the phase 3 RADIANCE trial. 

— Neurofeedback is becoming a trendy “solution” to cognitive deficits, but do the data actually support the claims?

— Despite promising results, French regulators are investigating the clinical activities behind AB Science’s investigational ALS drug masitinib. 

— Can the increasingly popular “fidget spinner” really quell symptoms of ADHD and autism? Despite boundless claims, the research just isn’t there.  

— Learn more about the curious case of Phineas Gage — the 1800s railroad worker who impaled himself with a tamping iron and never was the same again. 

— Watch the video below to hear more about the recently published data on cannabidiol in patients with Dravet syndrome from lead study investigator Orrin Devinsky, MD, of NYU Langone Medical Center.