Hi Dayle, nice to see you again. I didn't realize you are Canadian, and/or that you didn't have a category yet.

I was going to ask the same question of Cherie, endure . . . I think we have the same options here as in the US.

Cherie

I think Cherie is likely thinking about availablity of IVIG (which she and I have discussed). It is not available for Canadians with ms. Also tysabri has been held up with health canada and hospital ethics committees..i know a friend who was in the trial is just getting back on the program this week. It will be more limited here at least for now.

But we do have access to the MPB8298 trial..which is not available in the US yet.

Just saw this and thank you dayle for answering the question. It was exactly what I meant but I did not want to give too much personal information that dayle had not given me permission to share.

Thanks for the clarification Dayle and Cherie.

Tysabri is pretty new to the scene . . . so I'm not surprised that Canada is not ready to move forward with it yet. I've heard (on other boards) that it is expected to take less then the usual (2 yrs ?) to get it moving here though . . .

You wouldn't be a candidate for that treatment though, would you Dayle (without a confirmed MS category)? Last I heard, it's approved for active Relapsing MS, and only after other therapies have failed . . .

I didn't realize we didn't have access to IVIG. Could someone explain what that is, please?

Thanks, Cherie

Sorry. I've gotten much of my information about the Canadian Health system and what is available for MS from Dayle and Patricia2. Haven't spoken with Mark Freedman in a little over a year. He, at that time, said that Canadians had access to most of what US citizens did for MS care but Canada Health was watching some of the newer trials longer and more closely before adopting them. IVIg...not sure why.

And I think dayle has a firm MS diagnosis but with the degree of illness this year, they have not yet decided where she has settled in the spectrum. I will let her give details of the broad range of therapies that have been tried.

Ivig..I am not sure why. I know it is not approved for ms in Canada. But either is Novantrone, it is used off label. I suspect it is economic. Ivig is very very expensive and in short supply. Because its an IV drug it falls under OHIP(or provincial health care plans). They would have to have pretty good data showing efficacy before they will approve it. A pile of us on IVIG would strain the system.

I had an online conversation with MArk Freedman about it 4 years ago and he was hopeful a form of IVIg was going to have a clinical trial in Canada, but never heard any more about it.

I asked my neuro to try Ivig, but he stated there was a study coming out that refuted its effectiveness, so no go. I do beleive they are trying it on pediatric ms patients instead of steroids though.

I am not sure at this point whether i will qualify for tysabri. It depends on whether or not i have a flare in the next year. No flare this year-you would think that would be good news-but its not really. No flare in 2 years means likely secondary progressive rather than relapsing progressive. Relapsing progressive would mean i might mean tysabri criteria. However, i seem prone to infections anyway, so probably not a great choice.

Hmmm . . . I agree then, that it might not be the best option for you.

Thanks again Dayle and Cherie.

Cherie