I saw this awhile back and saved it 'cause I know some people on this board:
From:
http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=1064472006
July 22, 2006
Quote:
Drug cuts MS attacks by 90%
LYNDSAY MOSS
HEALTH CORRESPONDENT
PATIENTS with multiple sclerosis treated with a new combination of drugs saw the number of attacks they suffered cut by 90 per cent, researchers said yesterday.
A major nationwide trial, including patients in Scotland, is now planned to test the drugs after the success of a small study in Liverpool.
It is hoped that such a treatment could help patients, who may have otherwise ended up bedridden, live normal lives.
Scotland has an estimated 10,500 people with MS - more people for its population than anywhere else in the world. The latest trial focused on people with the type of MS known as relapsing-remitting - about 85 per cent of people with MS start off with this form.
In particular, the 27 patients were showing signs their disease was likely to progress quickly and lead to severe disability.
Researchers from the Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Liverpool treated the patients first with the cancer drug Mitoxantrone followed by a course of Copaxone, which is one of the drugs already used to treat relapsing-remitting patients.
The researchers, led by consultant neurologist Dr Mike Boggild, found that the patients suffered 90 per cent fewer relapses over three years.
As a result they are now looking for volunteers for a much larger, controlled trial at ten centres across the UK including the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow. Dr Boggild said the treatment regime had proved "remarkably effective" in the group of patients they studied, all of whom had MS for less than five years.
"The effect is so striking that we suspect the two drugs may be acting synergistically," he said.
One patient taking part in the trial, Karen Ayres, from Warrington, said her life had been vastly improved after she started taking the drugs.
The 28-year-old said: "Lying paralysed in hospital, I truly believed that I would never get the chance to travel again, let alone go back to university to study."
David Harrison, from the MS Society, said the results were "very impressive" and a full trial would hopefully confirm the effect.
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=1064472006
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I hope it turns out to be a valid treatment for those that need it. Hugs.
Barbara
09-01-2006, 12:45 PM
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