Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disorder of the central nervous system with initial inflammation of the protective myelin sheath encasing nerve fibres. Symptoms vary widely and often occur initially as discrete episodes interspersed with relatively symptom-free periods (relapsing MS).
A drug currently being tested for its effectiveness in treating relapsing forms of MS is now to be tested to see whether it can prevent the disease from developing. The drug, cladribine, will be given orally to patients who have a first clinical event suggestive of MS. Patients will be treated for two years, or up to the time when they experience a second attack leading to a definite clinical diagnosis of MS. Treatment will be given in two or four cycles in the first year, with a single daily dose of cladribine tablets being given on four to five consecutive days in each cycle. This means that patients in the study will take cladribine for only 8 – 20 days in the first year. In the second year, two treatment cycles will be given to all patients.
Cladribine is also used as an intravenous infusion to treat hairy cell leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas.
Related posts:
- More on the Mechanism of Glatiramer Acetate in Multiple Sclerosis Approved in 1995, glatiramer acetate (Copaxone®, copolymer-1) is a disease-modifying drug that has been demonstrated to reduce the relapse rate...
- New Therapeutic Target for Multiple Sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease that results in damage to oligodendrocytes which maintain insulating myelin sheaths around nerve fibres...
- Lipidomics Reveals New Target for Multiple Sclerosis Arachidonic acid (AA) has important physiological roles and is a key mediator of inflammation. Released from membrane glycerophospholipids by cyctosolic...
- Role for Galanin in Multiple Sclerosis The neuropeptide galanin is widely distributed in the nervous system and levels are known to increase dramatically in response to...
- MS Drug Could Also Fight Viral Infections A drug that is being developed to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) by damping down the immune system may also have...
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