Available therapies

Although Multiple Sclerosis (MS) still has no cure, effective drug-based treatments do exist. The drugs used in treating MS can be divided into three groups: 

• Drugs that treat an acute attack alleviate symptoms but neither change the mechanisms behind MS nor the course of the disease; these drugs are usually referred to as corticosteroids, which are a form of steroids.   

• Drugs that alter the course of the disease by relieving the effects on disordered immune processes. Immunomodulatory and immunosuppressive drugs fall into this category. These act by reducing the immune system cell activity responsible for the body attacking the central nervous system;     

• Drugs to treat specific symptoms - this is known as symptomatic therapy.