News RoundUp 2

as at 14 January 2008

Combination therapy proves successful as secondary progressive MS treatment

A two-year Spanish study of azathioprine* combined with interferon beta-1b was carried out in 10 people with secondary progressive MS who had not responded well to IFNB-1b alone. The findings showed that:

• combination therapy was safe and generally well tolerated;
• annual relapse rate was reduced and there was a significant trend for EDSS improvement;
• there was a significant improvement in neuropsychological tests after 2 years;
• total lesion load measured by MRI decreased at 12 and 24 months.

* an oral immunosuppressive medication.

Source: MS Society of Canada

Read more at: http://www.mssociety.ca/en/research/medmmo_20080111.htm

Disease-modifying drugs for MS are effective in reducing disability progression in people who’s MS started with relapses

A team at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia has developed estimates of drug effectiveness based on data from 590 people with MS treated with the drugs.

Compared to estimated rates of progression before treatment, therapy was estimated to reduce progression in the EDSS by 90-105% over the course of the period studied in people with relapsing MS.

The reduction in progression of the EDSS was 100-112% for patients with relapsing-remitting MS but only 8-22% for those with secondary-progressive MS.

Although this study was based on clinical observations and not on a well-controlled clinical trial, it provides much-needed evidence of the longer-term benefit of therapy.

Source: MS Society of Canada

Read more at: http://www.mssociety.ca/en/research/medmmo_20080109.htm