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The US National MS Society reports that disease-modifying drugs for MS are now effective in reducing disability progression in people whose MS started with relapses.
Researchers in Nova Scotia, Canada, have developed estimates of drug effectiveness based on data from a large-scale analysis of 590 people with MS treated with these drugs. Compared to estimated rates of progression before treatment, therapy was estimated to reduce progression in the EDSS (a scale used to measure disease activity) 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 those 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 these therapies. The study population included 390 people with RRMS and 200 people with SPMS at an average of just under 9 years since disease onset.
Read more at: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=HOM_RES_research_2007dec7
Reference: Brown, M. et al., (2007) How effective are disease-modifying drugs in delaying progression in relapsing-onset MS? Neurology 2007 Oct 9;69(15):1498-507.
Read abstract/source full text of article: http://tinyurl.com/3cwvx7