New Treatment for MS

MS Treatment Breakthrough!!!
October 23, 2008 by Jessica Land

Leukemia drug can halt, reverse MS

For me, this could be life-changing news!

LONDON (AFP) – Researchers at the University of Cambridge said Thursday they have found that a drug originally developed to treat leukaemia can halt and even reverse the debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis (MS).

In trials, alemtuzumab reduced the number of attacks in sufferers and also helped them recover lost functions, apparently allowing damaged brain tissue to repair so that individuals were less disabled than at the start of the study.

“The ability of an MS drug to promote brain repair is unprecedented,” said Dr Alasdair Coles, a lecturer at Cambridge university’s department of clinical neurosciences, who coordinated many aspects of the study.

“We are witnessing a drug which, if given early enough, might effectively stop the advancement of the disease and also restore lost function by promoting repair of the damaged brain tissue.”

The MS Society, Britain’s largest support charity for those affected by the condition, said it was “delighted” at the trial’s results, which must be followed up with more research before the drug can be licensed.

“This is the first drug that has shown the potential to halt and even reverse the debilitating effects of MS and this news will rightly bring hope to people living with the condition day in, day out,” said head of research Lee Dunster.

MS is an auto-immune disease that affects millions of people worldwide, including almost 100,000 in Britain and 400,000 in the United States.

It is caused by the body’s immune system attacking nerve fibres in the central nervous system, and can lead to loss of sight and mobility, depression, fatigue and cognitive problems. There is no cure, and few effective treatments.

In the trial, 334 patients diagnosed with early-stage relapsing-remitting MS who had not previously been treated were given alemtuzumab or interferon beta-1a, one of the most effective licensed therapies for similar MS cases.

After three years, alemtuzumab was found to reduce the number of attacks the patients suffered by 74 percent over the other treatment, and reduce the risk of sustained accumulation of disability by 71 percent over interferon beta-1a.

Many individuals who took alemtuzumab also recovered some of their lost functions, becoming less disabled by the end, while the disabilities of the other patients worsened, the study in the New England Journal of Medicine said.

Alastair Compston, professor of neurology and head of the clinical neurosciences department at Cambridge, said alemtuzumab was the “most promising” experimental drug for the treatment of MS.

He expressed hope that further trials “will confirm that it can both stabilise and allow some recovery of what had previously been assumed to be irreversible disabilities”.

Alemtuzumab was developed in Cambridge and has been licensed for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.


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Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

One Response to “MS Treatment Breakthrough!!!”
on November 25, 2008 at 4:47 am dk
awesome.



on February 8, 2009 at 9:58 pm James Eckburg
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I’m glad to see that research on MS is going on a cross the Ocean. The one taril they did on , 334 patients diagnosed with early-stage relapsing-remitting MS who had not previously been treated were given alemtuzumab or interferon beta-1a, one of the most effective licensed therapies for similar MS cases they had good results on after the 3 yrs study. It seems some of the patients got very good results. Many individuals who took alemtuzumab also recovered some of their lost functions, becoming less disabled by the end, while the disabilities of the other patients worsened, the study in the New England Journal of Medicine said. That is so great news but I hope that they also document the side affects later on.

I also found two other articles on this subject that are very interesting so I thought I would post them the first one I found was fraom a site called Netdoctor.co.uk, and it was titled: New Treatment for MS: New treatment for MS:This was found on the site called : Netdoctor.co.uk.

Question

My aunt has multiple sclerosis. Her father (my grandfather) has spoken to a relative in the USA and he said that there is a new treatment for MS and it is a patch called Procarin (he’s not entirely sure of the name).

My Aunt currently uses Beta-Interferon and this is not working properly. She asked me to find out some information on this new product.

Can you help? I’d like to know which company makes it and if and when it could be launched over here. Is it still in the trial stage or has it been properly launched in the USA?

Answer

I have a number of patients with MS and understand how difficult it can be to live with. People are willing to try almost anything that might be of help, in an effort to improve their condition, which by its very nature is often unpredictable.

Your relative in the USA is correct. There is a patch treatment for MS called Procarin, which is being pioneered by a nurse called Elaine DeLack, who herself is a sufferer diagnosed in 1988.

DeLack discovered the treatment formula when researching local history and with help from a pharmacist developed a cream that is applied to a transdermal patch and placed on the skin. The two primary ingredients in Procarin are histamine 2 and caffeine.

DeLack kept using it on herself, and was amazed by the results. She submitted her research to the Washington Institutional Review Board and got permission to organise a pilot study. Dr. Daniel Nehls, a Tacoma neurosurgeon agreed to work with DeLack.

Dr. Nehls says seven out of the nine patients who finished the study gained increased energy and function. Only two complained of minor side effects.

One patient thought the treatment made them drowsy, another said they had trouble sleeping while on the patch. For some, the results were life-changing. Because of Procarin’s apparent effectiveness in the pilot study, DeLack wants to get the treatment approved by the Food and Drug Administration. That will not be an easy task. According to FDA spokeswoman Sue Hutchcroft, the average drug approval process takes seven years and 50-million dollars. It requires three phases of rigorous testing, including double-blind placebo tests.

Some doctors in the USA have reviewed DeLack’s research and agreed to prescribe Procarin to patients they think could benefit. Procarin is considered experimental, though, and without F.D.A approval, it isn’t covered by insurance. Several of the study participants have stayed on the Procarin patch, at their own expense, since the study ended. DeLack says Procarin is not a cure for MS, but a treatment. A person would have to consistently take the treatment to benefit.

Currently the cost of Procarin is $249.00 per month and requires a prescription. The Procarin® System is being marketed to pharmacists to compound (create a preparation using several ingredients). Procarin has not been demonstrated through any accepted methods to be of benefit to people with MS, and the Multiple Sclerosis Society’s medical advisors believe there is no scientific rationale to suggest possible benefit.I am not aware of it being available in the UK.

I hope that this information is of use to you and your aunt.

Yours sincerely

Dr John Pillinger, GP
Last updated 10.09.2007
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/ate/musclesjoints/202300.html - 81k

An nother article I found on a local TV station in theie Medical news and it was reported by : Leslie LoBue:Medical news from abc12.com
By Leslie LoBue
UNDATED (WJRT) — (02/12/08)– Doctors are getting close to stopping Multiple Sclerosis in its tracks.
HealthFirst reporter Leslie LoBue says doctors are testing a new drug that could stop the disease in its tracks.
For Cathy Gregory, independence doesn’t come easy. Reaching into the cabinet takes every ounce of energy she can muster.
Without her wheelchair, she’s immobile. Cathy’s fighting a debilitating form of Multiple Sclerosis known as secondary progressive M-S, or SPM-S.
Steven Cohen is a neurologist at Suncoast Medical Center in Florida. “It’s a slow, relentless process where they just get progressively worse.”
About 40 percent of M-S patients have SPM-S. Cathy has tried every drug available with no results. “I was on Rebif and I was on Novantrone, which is a chemotherapy drug. And I believe it was eight doses that I went through. It didn’t work for me.”
While there are effective drugs for traditional M-S, there are no current treatments for SPM-S. But a new injectable drug, MBP 8298, could help.
It’s similar to an allergy shot. Patients who have M-S lose the protective layer, myelin, which allows the central nervous system to send messages to the body. This twice-a-year injection introduces a protein that helps the immune system build tolerance to the disease.
“What we hope is that infusion of this small peptide, or small protein, will prevent or stop or at least, hopefully, slow this progressive, downhill course that these patients have,” Cohen said.
Cohen says this drug won’t offer patients a cure, but it could give them something almost as good. “People can live a semi-normal, almost normal life, and plan for the future and know what to expect.”
“To know that this drug could start to slow down the process, that gives me somewhat of an encouragement that, yes, I can take care of myself,” Gregory said, hopefully.
Trials of the drug are currently taking place across the U.S. and Canada. Dr. Cohen says it could be several years before the drug is widely available, but he says current tests have been very successful.
abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/health&id=5952475 - 39k
These two article showa that MS research is going strong today.
I have had MS for over 25 yrs. and it is very interesting to see the new treatmets that are offered.



on February 8, 2009 at 10:00 pm James Eckburg
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These are just two articles that I thought needed to show the people with MS that there is HOPE FOR A CURE!!!!!

Thanks for taking the time to read. I would enjoy hearing from you.

James Eckburg
joeckburg@gmail.com
skype me jamesoeck22368