Cell Cept is generally used in place of steroids to reduce inflammation. Talk to your doc about it.

If you check out this site http://www.news-medical.net/?id=18900 You'll see how effective Novantrone and Copaxone is proving to be over time.

Christine,

Here is some information I found on cell-cept. It looks like there's not a lot of data yet on its effects on MS beyond the preliminary except that it is worth continuing investigations into its effectiveness in MS. It's used on its own as well as with other therapies. Doesn't look like it's ever been tested in combination with novantrone but since they are both immune suppressants, I wouldn't think they could be taken together.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_docsum

Lupus. 2005;14 Suppl 1:s42-5. Links
Mycophenolate mofetil and neurological diseases.Vermersch P, Stojkovic T, de Seze J.
Department of Neurology, Hopital Roger Salengro, Lille, France. pvermersch@chru-lille.fr

We describe experience with the use of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) in neurological diseases. Although only small series of patients or case reports were described, MMF is promising in immune-mediated neuromuscular disorders. MMF has been used for the treatment of polymyositis, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy, and multifocal motor neuropathy. These studies showed that MMF is well tolerated and may be useful in some patients. MMF can be effective alone but mainly as an adjuvant therapy by reducing steroid requirements or the frequency of infusions of IVIg. MMF has also been tested alone as a single drug treatment or in combination with immunomodulatory drugs in multiple sclerosis in open surveillance trials or in phase II studies. None of these studies have been designed to demonstrate a clinical efficacy but preliminary results are very promising.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_docsum

Clin Neuropharmacol. 2004 Mar-Apr;27(2):80-3. Links
Mycophenolate mofetil in multiple sclerosis.Frohman EM, Brannon K, Racke MK, Hawker K.
Department of Neurology, University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, USA. elliot.frohman@utsouthwestern.edu

OBJECTIVE: To describe experience with the use of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). BACKGROUND: MMF is a potent immunosuppressant that is a selective inhibitor of inosine 5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase type II, the enzyme responsible for the de novo synthesis of the purine nucleotide guanine within activated T and B lymphocytes and macrophages. METHODS: A retrospective review of experience in treating 79 MS patients with MMF (61 with secondary progressive, 14 with relapsing-remitting, and 4 with primary progressive MS) in the authors' MS center. RESULTS: In most cases, MMF was added as adjunctive therapy in patients already being treated with either interferon-beta (n = 44) or glatiramer acetate (n = 20). Fifteen patients not able to use interferon or glatiramer acetate were treated with MMF monotherapy. Seventy percent of the patients continued MMF therapy. Eight patients discontinued therapy because of side effects, 7 patients continued to exhibit evidence of disease progression, 4 were denied insurance coverage, 2 were lost to follow-up, and 1 patient had an elevation of hepatic transaminases that resolved on discontinuation of MMF. One patient discontinued MMF therapy secondary to cytomegalovirus diarrhea. CONCLUSION: MMF was well tolerated by the majority of patients treated. While these clinical observations were uncontrolled, the clinical course of MS was either unchanged or subjectively improved in many of the treated patients. A randomized controlled trial of MMF in MS, either as monotherapy or in conjunction with interferon or glatiramer acetate, appears warranted.