Hope for MS pill after cladribine and fingolimod trials

[Iormlund]

Patients would welcome an oral treatment, doctors say


Oral drugs to treat multiple sclerosis could become available in 2011 after promising results in two trials.

Drug licences have been applied for and the MS Society said it was "great news" for people with MS - current treatments involve injections or infusions.

The trials of the drugs each involved 1,000 people in over 18 countries, the New England Journal of Medicine says.

Cladribine and fingolimod, which come as tablets, cut relapse rates by 50-60% over two years compared with placebos.

Fingolimod was also tested against the widely used injection, beta interferon 1a. The trial showed the new drug was twice as effective in reducing the number of relapses over a year.
    The evidence is now there and we will be working with the relevant authorities to make sure those who will benefit can get access
Dr Doug Brown, Biomedical Research Manager at the MS Society


Multiple sclerosis is the most common disabling neurological disorder affecting young adults. It affects more than 100,000 people in the UK and 2.5 million worldwide.

Symptoms include mobility problems, lack of bladder and bowel control and and blurred vision.

The downside of current treatments is that they have to be injected or given by infusion.

MS sufferers have long hoped a pill would be developed. Pharmaceutical companies have been competing to get there first.

More choice

Dr Doug Brown, Biomedical Research Manager at the MS Society, said: "This is great news for people with MS and signifies a shifting tide in the treatment of the condition.

"Availability of oral therapies will give people greater choice and being able to take a tablet instead of unpleasant injections will come as welcome relief.

"The evidence is now there and we will be working with the relevant authorities to make sure those who will benefit can get access."

Doctors have also welcomed the studies.

Dr Belinda Weller, a consultant neurologist based in Edinburgh who specialises in MS, said the findings are "very significant" and indicated "a big breakthrough".

"This is the first major advance in MS therapy for a few years," she said. "I hope the drugs will soon be licensed."

But she expressed concerns both about possible side effects - which the trials suggested could include an increased risk of herpes and cancer - and that the new drugs could push up the cost of treating MS.

"More patients are likely to want to use these new drugs," she said. "Some people shun the currently available treatments because of the need to inject. This could put pressure on hospital budgets."

The MS Society called on the drug companies to price the drugs reasonably.

"The evidence is now here and we hope to see the pharmaceutical companies price these drugs responsibly so they can be made available to people with MS."

[Strix]

If we had only elected Gore this would have been a reality almost a decade ago and paralyzed people would be walking. 

[Jaron]

I wouldn't mind an oral treatment myself.

[Valdemar]

Don't be too happy..

Fingolimod at least is a general Immune represant, originally created for transplant patients.

The problem is it doesn't target the specific parts of the immune system affected by MS like the injections does, but a wider part of the system. That leaves the immune system open to a variety of other, very nasty infections.

That was and is the case with Tysabri and has been the issue with Fingolimod.

So, while it is a good step, and I'd love to get rid of the bi daily injections I wont trade those for serious viral infections that my immune sytem would otherwise have handled by itself.

V

[citizen k]

While the idea of having an oral treatment is a good development, the fact that it's a chemo drug makes me hesitate. It's like using a sledgehammer when only tweezers are neccessary for the job.

[citizen k]

bi daily injections

V

   I do one daily and one weekly.

[Valdemar]

bi daily injections

V

   I do one daily and one weekly.

Whats the daily one?

last time we discussed this I recall you were on Avonex? I'm currently on Betaferon, Rebif gave me serious migraines.

And yeah, the side effects of using the sledgehammers, even if it is in pill form make me hesitate as well.

V

[Iormlund]

With Crohn's pretty much everything works using the sledgehammer approach. I've been immunosupressed for over 2 years now. Only Buseonide presentations try timing capsule delivery to minimize steroid intake in the higher intestine.

[citizen k]

Whats the daily one?
V

Copaxone