Towards an oral treatment for MS?

Several pharmaceutical companies have been studying year oral maintenance therapy for multiple sclerosis. In January, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), a license for a first product on the market. But what does this progress mean for you?

Relapsing-remitting MS

Who is eligible for this new treatment? The Belgian reimbursement criteria must still be defined, but normally they will be based on European standards. The treatment will in any case only intended for relapsing-remitting MS. These are forms in which flares and remission phases alternate.

Yet there is now a new study on the primary progressive form. A nice prospect, because there is no effective treatment is developed for this form of multiple sclerosis.

A second line treatment

Second criterion: this treatment should only be prescribed in secondary care. So only in cases where multiple sclerosis appears resistant to the other maintenance treatments. The treatment can also be used in specific cases where the disease from the beginning is very active.

Comfortable and effective

The main asset of this new type of treatment is obviously its mode of administration in tablet form. An important step forward, because all current MS treatments are administered by subcutaneous or intramuscular injection or infusion. Laboratories on their oral versions not just derived from their injection means. The mechanisms are completely different. And this is the first approved drug proved very effective results.

Too recent

One downside: the product is too recent for the long term side effects to consider. In comparison, the side effects of the injection are nearly twenty years studied. There are also fixed in the short term side effects, including hypertension. This new product will also be followed deeper than current treatments. Therefore it is only in second-line use. Nevertheless, the risk-benefit ratio of the side effects is very reassuring. This is evident from the fact that the United States have approved the drug as first disadvantage.

Different molecules in the running

The race for the oral treatment is not over. Several molecules are still in a testing phase. Some are rejected as they appeared promising, others surprised the scientific world by their unexpected results. So we are only at the beginning of a new era. The therapeutic landscape of multiple sclerosis will change dramatically. Ultimately, scientists aim to treatment tailored to each patient.