14 DAY TRIAL // Multiple sclerosis, also known as disseminated sclerosis or encephalomyelitis disseminata, is a condition of the immune system, in which the cells begin to attack the central nervous system, causing the demyelinization of neurons. It occurs mostly in people between the ages of 15 and 60, and can often result in a physical and cognitive disability.
Statistics estimate that between 250,000 to 350,000 people in the United States alone suffer from this disease. At this point, the best course of treatment consists of injections, but their effectiveness is disputed. Recently, researchers at the Queen Mary University of London have devised a pill that seems to work far better than regular injections in mitigating the effects of MS.
Results of major clinical trials, presented recently in Seattle at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, show that cladribine tablets, taken just a few times per year, can significantly reduce the incidence of MS relapses, by more than 50 percent.
The tests have also revealed that there are very few side-effects to the tablets, and none of the patients that took part in the tests reported any major damage from taking the experimental medication. The experts behind it say that, if cladribine pills are to pass examinations and become available to patients, they could be the first non-injectable treatment on the market ever.
“These results are really exciting. MS can be a very debilitating illness and at the moment treatment options remain limited. Having an effective oral therapy will have a major impact for people with MS. Our study shows that cladribine tablets prevent relapses and slow down the progression of the disease making patients feel better,” QMUL Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry Professor Gavin Giovannoni, who has also been the lead researcher for the new investigation, shared.
“Importantly, it does so without the need for constant injections that are associated with unpleasant side effects. We will continue to follow the patients in the trial to see how they fare in the long-term,” the expert added. More than 1,300 patients suffering from multiple sclerosis were followed during the trials, and their evolution was assessed using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans. Some of the participants received small doses of the pill, some got medium ones, while a third group got a placebo pill.
The analysis of the brain scans revealed that even patients who took few pills, as in about eight over the course of a year, showed remarkable progress when compared to those in the placebo group. Patients who took about 20 pills within the year exhibited a better evolution than both the other groups.