The next decade should see further improvement in treatment for MS patients  (3/27/2008)

The next 10 years should see further improvement in treatment prospects for people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a report published in December by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).

The past decade has seen "astonishing" growth in activity in MS research and there is now a substantial number of potential new therapies in the later stages of clinical testing. There are good reasons for optimism for MS patients including oral medications, several agents being tested for progressive forms of the disease, and agents that work by new mechanisms. 

"Multiple sclerosis is an excellent example of how advances in medicines are usually made in steps," said Dr Richard Barker, Director General of the ABPI. "It's just a dozen years since the first medicine to treat MS was licensed, and now there is a large number of these in development. This healthy pipeline of research would not exist without the previous experience of those first medicines to build upon, and a pricing structure that rewards stepwise innovation".

The ABPI report, Target Multiple Sclerosis, said the discovery and development of new treatments is a time-and-resource-demanding activity and even with the new options under advanced study, the situation of people with MS will not be transformed overnight. 

"Nevertheless, with such intense research activity, this exploration of new ideas is opening up new prospects for disease management," the report states.

Geographical variation is one of the most striking features of the disease. MS is most common in northern countries such as Canada and Scandinavia and lowest in countries near the equator.

"This variation provides evidence for the significance of exposure to sunlight as a protective factor," the report concludes. 

Infonicks, March 2008 

References: Treatment prospects for multiple sclerosis will improve. ABPI Press Area, December 12, 2007 www.abpi.org.uk